The aim of this qualitative study was to explore firefighters' perceptions of how their working experiences and personal lives positively and negatively influence each other. The purpose of this study was also to understand firefighters' perceptions of the support that is currently available to them and what further support they require, in order to cope with the demands of work and personal relationships. The research was conducted in two research settings and permission was gained to conduct the research from the City of Cape Town's Research Department and the Fire Chief of the Fire and Rescue Department. A qualitative research design was used to conduct this study, and purposive sampling was used to select the sample. A total of twenty, male firefighters were interviewed using a semi-structured interview schedule. A digital recorder was used to ensure that the interviews could be recorded accurately. The interviews were transcribed and analysed following Tesch's (1990) method of data analysis. The findings from this study reflect that the participants' work experiences and personal lives do influence each other. The participants reported that the training and education they received to become a firefighter, their relationship with their colleagues, and shift work had a positive influence on their personal lives. At the same time a number of workplace stressors such as shift work, repeated exposure to trauma, challenging aspects of career advancement and the negative consequences of the rank structure, were identified as negatively influencing their personal lives. Positive factors such as social support including support from family and work as well as religious support help buffer the negative effects of stress experienced by firefighters in their work. Personal and family challenges were seen to have a negative influence on firefighters working experience. Lastly, recommendations were made to various stakeholders including the Fire and Rescue Department as well as the Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) and Wellness branch. These included the need for online surveys, sports days and informal meetings between management and firefighters. Recommendations to EAP and Wellness branch included 2 continuous marketing of EAP services, pro-active interventions such as stress management and building resilience for firefighters, management training as well as wellness events.

Fires within the built environment are a fact of life and through design and the application of the building regulations and design codes, the risk of fire to the building occupants can be minimised. However, the building regulations within the UK do not deal with property protection and focus solely on the safety of the building occupants. This research details the statistical analysis of the UK Fire and Rescue Service and the Fire Protection Association's fire incident databases to create a loss model framework, allowing the designers of a buildings fire safety systems to conduct a cost benefit analysis on installing additional fire protection solely for property protection. It finds that statistical analysis of the FDR 1 incident database highlights the data collection methods of the Fire and Rescue Service ideally need to be changed to allow further risk analysis on the UK building stock, that the statistics highlight that the incidents affecting the size of a fire are the time from ignition to discovery and the presence of dangerous materials, that sprinkler activations may not be as high as made out by sprinkler groups and that the activation of an alarm system gives a smaller size fire. The original contribution to knowledge that this PhD makes is to analyse the FDR 1 database to try and create a loss model, using data from both the Fire Protection Association and the Fire and Rescue Service.

From a fire perspective EPS insulation has characteristics that makes it inflammable and can cause fast fire spread which is aggravating for the fire and rescue services. Reports from fire and rescue operations related to both EPS insulation and construction sites of buildings, show that fires most often are related to faults in protecting combustible materials during hot works such as welding. A case study was performed with the purpose to investigate flaws during handling and installation of EPS insulation at four construction sites. The project consisted of field studies with interviews with respective site managers and a supplier of façade systems. Interviews were also conducted with the fire and rescue services to obtain a deeper understanding for the problems of fire rescue operations during fires with large quantities of EPS insulation and the risks from using combustible insulation in modern building technology. The study showed that fire safety measurements were not taken during handling and installation of EPS insulation in particular. EPS insulation was only looked at from an economical perspective which resulted in large quantities of insulation stored at the construction sites and in scaffolds prior to installation. It was concluded that handling and installation of EPS insulation was inadequate from a construction site fire safety point of view. Furthermore irregularities and lack of thoroughly made inspections of insulation of façade installations show that there are a lot of uncertainty regarding the fire safety of a façade with combustible insulation. Suggestions to limit fires in combustible insulations, increase quality of the construction of facades as well as raise awareness of fire hazards during planning and construction of buildings were made.

Bakgrund: Uppsatsen tar upp problematiken kring att organisera arbetstid inom räddningstjänst. Grundförutsättningarna är att räddningstjänst är en High Reliability Organisation (HRO) och att det påverkar organisationen. I och med New Public Management (NPM) framfart och den ekonomiska situationen i världen har räddningstjänsten fått ett ökat krav på kostnadsbesparingar och resursutnyttjande. Då personalkostnader står för en stor del av räddningstjänstens kostnader kan förändringar av brandmännens arbetstid och skiftgång vara ett logiskt steg, något som skett i Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS). Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är ett ge ett teoretiskt bidrag till hur NPM influerade reformer påverkar en HRO. För att göra detta frågar vi oss vad de olika skiftformerna får för konsekvenser för de anställda och organisationen. Metod: Uppsatsen har en kvalitativ forskningsansats vid studerandet av fallorganisationen Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service och Storstockholms Brandförsvar. Data har samlats in främst genom intervjuer men vi har även använt oss av kompletterande observationer och dokumentsstudier. Den analysmetod vi valt är tematisering då denna underlättar vår analys genom att empirin bryts ner och kategoriseras. Resultat: Studiens resultat identifierar olika faktorer som påverkar organisationens medvetenhet samt arbetsmiljö. Det förs en diskussion huruvida dessa faktorer bidrar till en förstärkning eller en försvagning samt att mönster mellan påverkan på medvetenheten och arbetsmiljön undersöks.

Title: Physical, psychological and technical preparation of the rescuer. Objectives: The aim of the thesis is to describe the physical, psychological and technical preparation of the rescuer, including the presentation of training examples for the in development. Methods: The method was used to analyze professional literature, the internal regulations of the HZS CR, together with the laws and decrees of the Czech Republic, which deal with the chosen topic of the thesis. Results: The reset of this work is a description of individual disciplines of the admission procedure supplemented with examples of exercises suitable for the development of physical fitness, examples formitigation of psychic stress and description of the individual technical knowledge needed for service at the HZS CR. Keywords: integrated rescue system, fire fighters, qualification, training

Större och mer svårbekämpade bränder har de senaste åren svept fram på flera platser runtom i världen. Ett föränderligt klimat skapar långa torrperioder till följd av höga temperaturer och värmeböljor. Räddningstjänster i de drabbade länderna ställs ofta inför en monumental uppgift med att hantera svårsläckta bränder i många gånger extrema förhållanden. Utifrån detta är det av vikt att undersöka de bakomliggande orsakerna och faktorer som spelar in, innan, under och efter en skogsbrand för att ge en mer nyanserad bild av de utmaningar räddningstjänsten ställs inför.Syftet med detta examensarbete var vidare att undersöka antändning- och spridningsbenägenhet samt värmeutveckling i tre olika typer av vanligt förekommande undervegetation i skogarna i Götaland. Resultaten från studien visar att granmarksproverna har en mindre intensiv spridning i förhållande till tallmarksproverna. Spridningen sker däremot såväl över proverna som under ytan och skapar glödbrand. Vikten av eftersläckningsarbete tillsammans med värmekamera för att upptäcka glödbrand bör därför anses som mycket viktigt utifrån de resultat som framkommit.

Simuleringsverktyget Emergo Train System® (ETS) har tidigare använts främst inom sjukvården för träning inom katastrofmedicin, räddningstjänsten däremot saknar motsvarande träningsverktyg. Syftet med denna studie var därför att undersöka hur ETS kan tillämpas i räddningstjänstens utbildnings- och träningsverksamhet. Fyra fokusgrupper bestående av personal från räddningstjänsten fick köra ett brandscenario och utifrån den upplevelsen besvara och diskutera frågor om möjligheten att använda ETS inom räddningstjänsten. Rekommendationer sammanställdes efter varje fokusgrupp och implementerades iterativt i nästkommande fokusgrupp. Studiens resultat visade bland annat att deltagarna vill använda ETS för att träna på ett flertal olyckor och situationer, men att verktyget behöver fler domänspecifika redskap och figurer. En central insikt var att whiteboardtavlornas placering påverkar deltagarnas aktivitet. Det finns även ett behov av att flera olika roller inom räddningstjänstens verksamhet ska kunna använda ETS, exempelvis brandmän och chef i beredskap. Studien fann även att räddningstjänstens “lag om skydd mot olyckor” bör ligga till grund för hur ett utfall ska utformas. Framtida studier bör undersöka detta i djupare detalj samt uppsöka specialister inom olika olycksområden för att ta fram rutinåtgärder, roller och redskapstillämpningar. I sin helhet visar studien på att ETS har stor potential att bli ett tränings- och utbildningsverktyg inom räddningstjänstens verksamhet. / The simulation tool Emergo Train System® (ETS) has in the past been primarily used for training emergency medicine operators, however the fire and rescue services lack a similar training tool for their operators. As a part of the ongoing work of adapting ETS the current study investigated how ETS can be adapted to the fire and rescue service's training activities. Four focus groups of fire and rescue service personnel played a house fire scenario in ETS and, based on that experience, answered and discussed questions regarding the possibilities of using ETS as a training tool in their domain. The recommendations of each focus group were iteratively implemented in the next focus group session. Results showed that the participants want to use ETS to train on different accidents and situations, but additional domain-specific tools and figures must be developed. Importantly, the positioning of the whiteboards affects the participants' activity. ETS should be adapted for use for different personnel within the fire and rescue services, such as firefighters and response managers. The study also found that the fire and rescue services "law for protection against accidents" should form the basis for developing measurable outcomes. Future studies should investigate this in greater detail, and also incorporate various accident specialists from various areas to develop routine measures, roles and implements. Overall, the study shows that ETS has great potential to become a training tool within the fire and rescue services.

My work deals with difficulties that can arise when firemen supply psychological first aid to victims in emergency situations. The theoretical part is divided into three sections, issues firemen face during procedures, supplying psychological first aid and communication. Furthermore, I discuss issues concerning stress, listening, influencing, specific communication regarding emergency situations and communication with the physically disabled. The practical part contains the results of questionnaires aimed at obtaining the knowledge and opinions of firemen dealing with psychological first aid to emergency victims. My conclusion submits proposals about learning methods for firemen dealing with psychological first aid.

The aim of this thesis is the analysis and description of the operation of the fire and rescue department which operatates in the territory of Bratislava, capital of Slovakia. To prevent damages on the lives of people and their property, it is essential that fire protection units will arrive on the place of incident in the shortest possible time. Effective blanket deployment of fire protection units in the city area helps to ensure it. The work thus focuses on the assessment of the current state of this blanket deployment and also on layout of the new deployment of fire protection units, which would fulfill the requirements of the time range and number of units required to be at the place of incident for fire protection intervention.

Human enhancement (HE) is the field of research aiming to improve and overcome the biological limitations of the physical and mental performance of humans. The implications of HE might especially prove relevant within high-intensity environments, such as the working environment of police and fire and rescue services. The aim of this thesis is to identify the needs of personnel within these domains and to highlight potential HE solutions that could aid to improve responder performance in the setting of an active emergency. Interviews conducted with representatives for the Swedish police and fire and rescue service highlighted the need for support of mental performance in the form of destressing during highintensity situations as well as an improvement of creating situational awareness and making adequate decisions in a short amount of time. The results imply a potential of implementing HE solutions that aid emergency responders by keeping them alert and open for information gathering or minimizing the experienced level of stress while providing vital information for a proper response. The thesis alsoconcluded a generally positive attitude towards implementation of HE solutions.