RichardB1983 said:professional emergency services personnel are getting paid regardless of whether they attend a rescue or not
Retained personnel are paid a fixed sum twice per year and then paid an additional sum for each call out
RichardB1983 said:professional emergency services personnel are getting paid regardless of whether they attend a rescue or not
badger said:old ruminator, I have read the latest bit to this thread as the 4 tenders being sent to assist a casualty from cheddar gorge and not a cave. I believe chris point was it seemed a proportionately high number for what could have been a low risk injury.
Burt said:The above statement is fact. I was first on scene for ASSAR.
mikem said:Part of the problem is there are so few cave rescues nowadays that emergency staff don't know who is required & everyone ends up there!
martinr said:Maybe it's time we had a non-999 number for cave rescue, a number that goes to MRO not fire and rescue?
Cap'n Chris said:... let cave rescue determine the resource requirements, role and scheduling of ancillary emergency services. If Cave Rescue is 'done' by cavers then they are in charge after all, aren't they? Perhaps therein lies the issue.....
Cap'n Chris said:martinr said:Maybe it's time we had a non-999 number for cave rescue, a number that goes to MRO not fire and rescue?
... let cave rescue determine the resource requirements, role and scheduling of ancillary emergency services. If Cave Rescue is 'done' by cavers then they are in charge after all, aren't they? Perhaps therein lies the issue.....
Fulk said:I believe that as things stand, if the police call out a cave rescue team then the team members are covered by some sort of police insurance policy (though I have no idea what it covers), but if, say, members of a team heard about somebody in trouble and set off to rescue them without being called out by the police, then they would not be covered by the police insurance. I guess that's a factor to consider.
Cap'n Chris said:Indeed. But the appropriate insurance can be kicked in to cover the cave rescue after the event has commenced, without the circus swarm of unnecessary mainstream emergency services arriving on scene first. By all means have F&R turn up to assist with pumping out flood water, and an ambulance crew being there to convey any casualty(ies) to hospital once they are extracted to surface, but let's have Cave Rescue on scene right from the outset, calling the shots, and overseeing the whole theatre.
Therefore, having a number to alert Cave Rescue without using 999 (which is the villain of the piece, apparently) should work perfectly.
alastairgott said:Cap'n Chris said:martinr said:Maybe it's time we had a non-999 number for cave rescue, a number that goes to MRO not fire and rescue?
... let cave rescue determine the resource requirements, role and scheduling of ancillary emergency services. If Cave Rescue is 'done' by cavers then they are in charge after all, aren't they? Perhaps therein lies the issue.....
Really difficult though, The problem is the call handlers not knowing where to put the call.
If there were a number that only cavers knew to get straight to Cave rescue, then the call handlers wouldn't see half the volumes of calls they do now. And therefore would be further out of practice?
If, for example, there were need for a missing persons search team to be sent out. and one area they wanted to search was "the caves of mendip hills", then they would find it difficult to progress a meaningful search without the cave rescue.
I don't know how to solve the conundrum though.
Fulk said:I believe that as things stand, if the police call out a cave rescue team then the team members are covered by some sort of police insurance policy (though I have no idea what it covers), but if, say, members of a team heard about somebody in trouble and set off to rescue them without being called out by the police, then they would not be covered by the police insurance. I guess that's a factor to consider.
andrewmc said:One thing you _could_ do is fund a permanent 24 hour 'cave rescue' 999 phone handler service (you would probably only need one person at a time) who worked with the police to arrange callouts. Almost certainly a massive waste of money; it might help prevent _some_ unnecessary external agency assistance but the Fire Service can still turn up on their own if they want (and are paying attention to current events).