Training to be a safety steward

2007-06-24 10:24:00

A safety steward's jacket

Yesterday was a very well spent day! I may have been way too busy and I may have gotten way too little sleep, but it was damn well worth it. For yesterday was the first of two whole-day training sessions to become a BHV worker.

In dutch, BHV is an abbreviation for Bedrijfs HulpVerlener, which can be roughly translated as Company Safety Steward. In short, these are the people who are there to limit the scope of a disaster on the workfloor, while waiting for the professionals to arrive. They apply first aid, the guide an evacuation and they fight a starting fire. All in all a very important job!

Over here, in the Netherlands, every company is required by law to have BHVs on hand. Originally the law required a minimum of one BHV per fifty people, but these days it just calls for an appropriate amount. This means that it could be anything between 1:10 (retirement homes, hospitals) to 1:50 (office buildings). BHVs should be sufficiently trained a know how to prevent panic and/or casualties.

Yesterday's session focussed on an intro to BHV, communcations during an incident an on fighting fires. This also included fighting gas and petrol fires using CO2 and foam extinguishers. This was a truly awesome day!

Our training was delivered by the good fellows of TBT fire and medical. If you're looking for a good BHV training, give these guys a ring.


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