Workplace safety training is as vital as workplace safety itself. It enables the management to ensure a safe and healthy work environment. It also helps the employees to recognize safety hazards and correct them. It enables them to understand best safety practices and expectations. Safety training is all the more important for organizations like hospitals and construction companies that use hazardous materials and equipment. Safety training is vital for employees or workers with regard to understanding of safety practices related to their jobs; otherwise, a worker will find himself/herself at a higher risk for workplace injury, illness or death.
A two-day training session was conducted for Faculty/ Staff and Students of AFM&DC on 1st & 2nd September, 2021 in Lecture Hall No. 6. The training was conducted by Punjab Emergency Service, Rescue 1122, by 2 trainers Mr. Froz Bakhtiar and Mr. Ahmad Hussain. The trainers briefed audience about work safety and first aid services to be provided in case of emergency. The trainers covered following topics in detail:
- Basic Life Saving Skills
- First Aid and Rescue
- Fire Fighting (Work Safety)
The trainers/ technical team of Rescue 1122 provided hands on practice to handle emergency situation, first aid and to use fire extinguishers to control fire. Large number of Faculty, Staff and students attained the training session. The presence of management Prof. Dr. Noor Akbar Sial (Principal AFMDC) & Mr. Aftab Ahmad Khan (Senior Manager Administration) in session encouraged the participants (list attached as Annexure ‘A’) and reinstated the fact that such trainings are vital and essential.
Day 1:
The day was started from recitation from Holy Quran. Than the trainers asked the participants to fill questionnaire, regarding emergency situation and how to handle them, whom to call in emergency. To judge and know about existing knowledge of Rescue 1122 operations and scope. It also covered the understanding of basic firefighting information and capability.
Introduction of Rescue 1122: The trainers than gave a brief introduction of Rescue 1122. They shared that, the Punjab Emergency Service (Rescue 1122) is the leading emergency service of South Asia. It has been established under the Punjab Emergency Service Act 2006 for professional management of emergencies such as road traffic crashes, medical emergencies, building collapse, fire, hazardous material incidents, explosions, flood & water rescue and animal rescue etc.
The Emergency Services Academy has also been established in Lahore to ensure stainable human resource development of emergency services in Pakistan which has so far trained over 20,000 emergency services personnel of all provinces of Pakistan. This Emergency Rescue Service has so far rescued over 9.3 million victims of accidents and disasters and saved losses over Rs. 490 billion by providing timely response and professional fire fighting in over 160,000 fire incidents. The Motorbike Ambulance Service has also been launched to further improve emergency response in congested areas and traffic jams. Rescue 1122 has also established over 5000 Community Emergency Response Teams.
Theories Life Saving: The trainers explained that first aid is the first and immediate assistance given to any person suffering from either a minor or serious illness or injury. We can provide care to preserve life and prevent the condition from getting worst, so that recovery can be promoted. It includes performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) while waiting for an ambulance or help. We can also treat minor conditions, such as applying a plaster to a cut. First aid is generally performed by someone with basic medical training. The trainers than called participants and demonstrated practically on dummy to completely explain the CPR.
Day 2:
The second day was started by Recitation from Holy Quran. The focus on day 2 was about Fire Safety.
Types of fire and fire extinguishers and their use: The trainers elaborated that fires can be extinguished by water, fuel or oxidant removal, or chemical flame inhibition; though, because fires are classified depending on the elements involved. A specific type of fire extinguisher may be required. The classification is based on the type of fires that the extinguisher suitable. The classification was:
Class A – fires involving solid materials such as wood, paper or textiles.
Class B – fires involving flammable liquids such as petrol, diesel or oils.
Class C – fires involving gases.
Class D – fires involving metals.
Class E – fires involving live electrical apparatus.
Class F – fires involving cooking oils such as in deep-fat fryers
The types of Extinguishers explained were:
Later practical demonstration was given on how to use extinguisher correctly:
- Pull: Pull the pin, this will break the tamper seal.
- Aim: Aim low, pointing the nozzle or hose at the base of the fire. Do not touch the horn on a CO2 extinguisher, it gets very cold and can damage the skin.
- Squeeze: Squeeze the handle to release the extinguishing agent.
- Sweep: Sweep from side to side at the base of the fire, the fuel source, until the fire is out.
These trainings will help the participants to cope up and give a quick response in any emergency situation in College premises as well as in their homes and public areas.
With warmest regards,