Workplace Excellence - Meet Fire-Rescue-EMR Class
Communication is the Key
Experts say the biggest problems encountered in any industry have to do with communication. Whether oral, written, face-to-face or electronic, almost everyone has had trouble at one point or another understanding a simple message sent to them.
In the emergency response profession, it is even more critical that messages be understood precisely. Lives can depend on proper communication techniques.
Communications on the fire scene are complicated by the fact that voices are often muffled and garbled as a result of having to speak through self-contained breathing apparatus masks and the various background noises associated with water flowing, axes chopping, sirens blaring and the general controlled chaos cacophony.
In an effort to help students become more aware of the difficulties encountered in communicating at the scene of a fire, and to become better communicators themselves, Fire-Rescue-EMR students participated in a skill drill designed to test their abilities to transmit a message and ensure it was received. Each student was given a walkie-talkie and a simple hand-drawn picture. Their task was to describe the picture to their radio partners and have them replicate the pictures at remote locations throughout KACC while wearing their SCBA .
The students soon realized that precision in describing what they wanted drawn was essential. The more specific they were, the better the resulting picture. They definitely understood that communication in an emergency needs to be circular and acknowledged. That is, a sender sends the message, and the receiver acknowledges the receipt of the message by repeating it back to the sender. The Fire-Rescue-EMR Instructor, Ed Leeson said "They realized the importance of thinking about what they were going to say before they keyed in the microphone and tied up valuable air time. I was very proud of them."
All in all, the students seemed to enjoy this particular learning experience, as well as have fun critiquing the drawings made by their classmates. Pictured are various students wearing their SCBA gear, holding their portable radios and the pictures which were the result of this exercise.