RJ Safety & Security
“The collaboration was very good and educational”
Roy Minnen is responsible for the Emergency Response Training Courses department within RJ Safety & Security. He proudly talks about the tremendous growth the department has experienced since the arrival of FireWare’s simulator. However, it isn’t just the booked training courses which have seen an increase, the simulator also serves as a showroom for the alarm systems and this has certainly impressed visitors.
A complete picture
“Students get the fright of their lives! And a real-life victim, plus a pan fire, and smells and sounds”, according to Minnen. This complete picture was the idea which was being closely and continuously monitored during the construction of the simulator. “Smells and sensations just result in that little bit of an extra realistic feeling. Students always opened the door when we didn’t yet have Hot Panels for in the doors. You will notice that the door procedure is done on autopilot and the door is still being opened.”
“We wanted to find ways of making sure the simulator could approach reality together with FireWare and to make sure it would be applicable to many different people. Every room or area therefore has a wide range of difficulty levels.” One good example is the scenario in the students’ room. The sofa can catch fire here, but we can also set up a scenario where the DVD player short circuits. “Sometimes I don’t switch on either of these scenarios. There is another door in the living room, so we can also train for a referral. This means I would only switch on the fire in the bedroom.” Minnen enjoys changing things around, making sure the students are caught by surprise every time. “Sometimes a student will walk straight into the first room, as a colleague has already told them about the referral. Only to then be confronted with a short circuiting DVD player ...”
5 days
Minnen has enjoyed a close working relationship with FireWare and subsequently learnt a great deal during the construction of the simulator. A scenario with a hospital room has been completely organised from a technical point of view and he can now do the decorating himself. “The collaboration was very good and educational. We managed to build the scenarios in 5 days!”
There is a large hall next to the current simulator. “We may well expand into this area in the future.” Minnen would then certainly wish to collaborate with FireWare again. “We experienced FireWare as very driven and this is certainly evident from the results and the people involved. There are a hundred thousand companies which say they can do it, but you really do need to be able to turn this claim into reality. I see quality as being of the utmost importance and this is exactly what I found at FireWare.”
