On Apr 2, 2012, at 10:38 PM, ss wrote: > But it is not OK to shut down the emergency dept for the reason quoted in the > news item. Just because the dotors were ignorant of something they should > have > known, they called in someone else who would be the scapegoats.
Upon reading the follow-up, I agree with you, except that maybe you were too easy on the Hazmat team (yes, I'm contradicting my earlier note on this topic). When I said "firefighters don't know and don't want to know" about all the specifics of various kinds of hazardous materials, I meant firefighters like me, who are trained to the "operations" level. We're only allowed to do "defensive" actions -- like blocking oil from going down a sewer drain or into the lagoon, or evacuating civilians if they need to be evacuated. In the USA, there is a firefighting standards body called NPFA or something like that, where N stands for "national" and F stands for "Firefighting". With regards to hazardous materials training, NPFA uses a scale similar to that used in the armed forces: -- Untrained -- Operator (like me, trained in basic tactics and theory, only qualified to take "defensive" actions) -- Technician (trained to get into special hazmat gear and deal with situations) -- Specialist (guys who run the show and direct the technicians. Experts.) The way it's supposed to work is, if the local team realizes they've got a situation that is beyond their capability to handle, they call in the state team. The people from the state team are, indeed, expected to be experts, and they should, indeed, know when it is or is not necessary to shut down an emergency room. So I think your diagnosis of overreaction and CYA is likely correct. jrs
