Helmets - wearing the wrong one

[Pixie]

As if jonno, rural helmet without a visor FTW!!!

Im still waiting for my structure... hrmmm

[littlejohn]

Structure helmet FTW.

Rural helmet FTL.

Translation?

[CFS_Firey]

FTW - for the win - meaning better than the competition...

[TillerMan]

Must be a seaford thing....

And yes there is a srtructure boot and non structure boot, they both look the same but the structure boot has a steel toe...

[bittenyakka]

Does any one have 2 sets of boots? I can Say structure all the way for boots?

[fireblade]

Structure helmets have a life of ten years from the date stamp on the inside of the helmet (fact) and of cause it is not a good idea to drop your helmet, leave it in the sun when not in use and get huge scratches in it like any sort of helmet.

My equipment officer took my old Bullard of me just as it was looking a treat. Helmet was yellowed from getting hot and the reflective stickers had bubbles on them. Then he handed me my new glow in the dark white one. But the old girl still lives on hanging up on the wall next to my trashed motorbike helmet.

Ahhh the memories!

[Morgan]

"Does any one have 2 sets of boots? I can Say structure all the way for boots? "

You would structural boots to a hazmat job instead of pvc boots?!!

[Darius]

Structure helmets have a life of ten years from the date stamp on the inside of the helmet (fact)

where is that documented?  (cos that's not the advice I've heard)

[TillerMan]

The boots are identical looking but structure boots cost a bit more, most people only get structure boots as it covers everything and weight difference would be minimal....

[mack]

Structure helmets have a life of ten years from the date stamp on the inside of the helmet (fact)

where is that documented?  (cos that's not the advice I've heard)

daresay it would be with any documentation recieved with the lid itself....

[fireblade]

Manufacturers recommendations- Australian Standards.

I've been in the CFS a while now and everyones helmet gets tossed when it comes up to ten years. Ring the guys at Brukunga and ask if your lost Darius...

 

[Pipster]

Manufacturers recommendations- Australian Standards.

I've been in the CFS a while now and everyones helmet gets tossed when it comes up to ten years. 

And this policy is where...?

I was told sometime ago, that helmets were meant to be batch tested - when they got to somewhere around 5 - 7 years old, one helmet from the batch was tested  (the sacrificial helmet ) and if it was OK, then the rest of the batch stayed...if it failed, then the whole lot were (supposed) to be ditched.

Never seen it happen tho'

We visually check our helmets at the start of each fire season, and end up throwing out a helmet every so often...but perhaps not as often as they should be.

I suspect many more hemlets should be tested than what occurs now.....


Pip

[fireblade]

Yeah thats interesting Pip at work we throw them if they look  suspect or before ten years same at my CFS station. Spoke to paid CFS staff and been told the same.

Imagine the cost and logistical nightmare of trying to do batch testing in the CFS given the size of the organisation and area covered.

In my opinion I don't think it is a huge issue, probably bigger fish to fry on this topic especially fire fighters wearing the correct helmet for the correct task! i.e rural helmets wore at structural incidents and rural helmets at RCR incidents without the correct visor that is not shatter proof.

[RescueHazmat]

Likewise... At work they are ditched if suspect or involved in any form of "impact".. not neccesarrily heavy impact either... (Which is always hard as you sort of get attached to your lid)...


But I agree, nothing more annoying (in my view) when you see people wearing the wrong gear in general.. - Particulalry when it comes to protecting your noggin.. (eg Crew in Pbi wearing Rural helmets, or as FB mentioned, not wearing impact/shatter resistant visor rated helmets at MVA's)..

[Darius]

obviously damaged ones are to be tossed, I am talking about fireblades quote: "Structure helmets have a life of ten years from the date stamp on the inside of the helmet (fact)".

If it really is a fact then it should be documented somewhere (like in a policy on PPE I would have thought) and it's not, and neither does the manufacturers recommend that either, as far as I know, hence my interest in why/where this "fact" came from.  I suspect someone just thought it sounded like a good idea and hence a legend was born.  Might be a good one for region to chase up!

[24P]

I always thought that date stamp was just when it was made nothing more.

[fireblade]

I looked at the Australian Standards for Fire fighting helmets ASNZ 4067: 2004 and could not find much on the life span of ten years.

As for the batch testing that is 9 helmets out of every manufactured batch which are then subjected to tests involving- Electrical insulation, Flame propagation, Convective heat exposure, Face shield tests, Impact energy attenuation, Penetration resistance, Retention system tests (chin strap) and Ear and Neck protection testing.

The only other thing stated from some manufacturers is that if the helmet is damaged in some way it should be returned for testing and if used in Compartment Fire Training it should be covered in an aluminiumised shield.

If the CFS is telling me ten years and my work is telling me the same that is good enough for me and that is where the so called "fact" came from as it is what I've been told to do from the Services I respond for. Maybe CFS got the ten years from a Manufacturers standard or a standard put in place by the CFS. I'm not really getting bent around the axles over it!

I'm waiting for a rep to get back to me from a company I deal with, which supplies my work helmets. Maybe he will have the right amount of years a helmet can live for.

As for the date stamp 24P I got told ten years from that date mate.

[Darius]

If the CFS is telling me ten years

so you mean someone in the CFS has told you 10 years. If it was official policy it would be documented somewhere. If it's not documented somewhere then it's not official and hence is just someone's opinion (I don't think it can be much clearer). So over to region to sort out.

[fireblade]

Darius, That what i got told by my place of employment and CFS paid guys.

I guess you have to believe what someone tells you some times.

Relax, breath deep we are only talking about helmets!

[backburn]

our group replace them every 10 years as policy or if they are not fit for purpose

[SA Firey]

Thou shalt not wear a structure helmet at a rural incident.......thats right a Bushwacker will protect you............NOT

[mattthefirey]

our brigade recently did an rcr refresher and have been told the pacific now make a helmet called a BR9 witch is a rural helmet with an impact rated visor so most of the people in our brigade that dont have ba are getting these helmets now.

[Robert-Robert34]

I dont wanna get into a heated debate so please let me say my piece without getting scorned at

Mid last year my brigade responded to a small scrub fire on the Wandilo Road and one of our lieuys got told off by the Group Officer for wearing his Structual Fire Fighting PPE & helmet instead of his Rural Fire Fighting PPE and helmet

There is one way we could avoid the mix up of putting on the wrong gear and that is have 2 seperate Gear Bags 1 for structual and the other for Rural thus separating both PPE sets

But thats just my opinion     

[Pipster]

But what happens when you grab the rural gear, because you are going to a rural fire, and when you get there, you end up with a structure fire (which has happened to my brigade)...

Pip

[Robert-Robert34]

Thats a good question pip i cant really answer it as i havent got structual PPE only Rural PPE so i'll let someone else answer it for you