Challenge 10.2

Why does this Challenge need to be solved?

Within Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, and for firefighting as a sector, firefighters are exposed to a range of contaminants during and after incidents. The issue of contaminant exposure, while known about, is not fully understood and is both an emerging area of concern and study. Public and firefighter safety is of paramount concern to the service, and we are determined to understand more about the risks presented by contaminant exposure. To support this work, led by the SFRS Contaminant Working Group, we wish to identify more effectively and try to reduce firefighter exposure to contaminants when responding to incidents.

With contaminants identified, the risks that exposure to contaminants pose to firefighters at incident, or to firefighters, staff, and members of the public that come into contact with firefighting personnel and equipment post incident, can be better understood and managed. For example, this would help to minimise cross-contamination and further exposure within and out with the working environment. In addition, recording and measuring individual employee exposures to containments could contribute to an employee’s health record in order to inform future practice and offer evidence of control measures and the effectiveness of Standard Operating Procedures.

Maintaining better data of contamination, of instance by exposure per type of incident, by individual and cumulative exposure would be a significant development in further enhancing the safety of firefighters, staff, and the public.

How will we know the Challenge has been solved?

Enhanced firefighter safety, including the health and wellbeing of staff and the public. Firefighting and operations would face a reduced risk of exposure because:

• Data can be gathered and used to reduce the likely exposure to contaminants by individual firefighters.

• Data helps, as much as reasonably possible, to inform and reduce contaminant levels at each stage of a decontamination process.

• Having a method to measure contaminants to recognise the appropriate steps/control/research measures to take.

Firefighting benefits from advanced warning of incidents or environments where contamination is likely to be present, for instance:

• Whether exposure has been within a closed or open environment.

• The potential level of exposure over a period of time can be estimated with confidence.

• Reduce the time to use equipment and support reusable Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) where appropriate.

• Improved design of and access to appropriate PPE so that resources  available are matched to the needs of an incident.

• Reduced costs through better management of equipment stock levels.

Who are the end users likely to be?

• Operational firefighters and staff (SFRS but also other services)

• Training instructors (SFRS but also other services)

• Private sector firefighters

Has the Challenge Sponsor attempted to solve this problem before?

Internal SFRS contaminants working group is overseeing the development of this work and is engaged in carrying out research, evaluating current practice and training.

Are there any interdependencies or blockers?

Due to the high impact environment in which the SFRS operate we expect the solution would need to be able to be intrinsically safe with the ability to withstand knocks, heat, water, and other factors.

Due to the number of stations, appliances and personnel, a potential solution would need to be deployed Scotland-wide.

Any technological solution may wish to consider integration with existing technology currently in use by SFRS.

Will a solution need to integrate with any existing systems / equipment?

Will require to integrate with SFRS current ICT systems, incident command systems and our data management systems. The exact needs would be identified during the Challenge and support provided to assess how integration may be achieved.

Is this part of an existing service?

Success in this Challenge would have beneficial implications for one of the primary roles of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and for any other fire and rescue service.

Any technologies or features the Challenge Sponsor wishes to explore or avoid?

CivTech is tech agnostic. As long as the proposed solution offers the opportunity to solve the Challenge in question, we will consider it.

That said, any proposed solution must be capable of integrating with existing systems as required by the specific Challenge and its Challenge Sponsor, and if appropriate be compatible with current and developing Scottish Government infrastructure.

Much is currently being made of the potential of advanced AI. In truth, just about all the products CivTech has developed over the past few years have AI as part of the tech stack but there is no obligation on your part to go down this route – either with componentry such as machine learning and pattern recognition, or indeed LLMs.

We are looking for the best solution, whatever technology used.

That said, we wish to consider solutions that will make use of technology and data. We are open to how technologies and data may be applied as part of any solution. Where a solution may not need to fulfil all elements of these features or technologies, we are open to receiving applications that consider other approaches not already noted.

For instance, exposure management will require:

• Use of data to support health and safety monitoring.

• Real-time or post incident data for incident management, review, training, and investigation.

• Sensor technologies for detecting contaminants, temperature, humidity, etc.

Examples of technologies and their application that we anticipate and would like to see further development in applications to solve the Challenge:

• Data analytics capabilities

• Predictive modeling algorithms

• Software including machine learning and artificial intelligence tools for analysing health data and predicting risks

What is the commercial opportunity beyond a CivTech contract?

This problem is found in firefighting services around the world. It is also found across all emergency services.

In addition regulated industries and manufacturing including supply chain operations, in the private and public sectors are markets for a solution to this Challenge.

Who are the stakeholders?

It is expected that Accelerator participants will liaise and consult with the following types of people:

• SFRS Operational Personnel

• SFRS Directorates and Functions including Safety and Assurance, Health and Wellbeing, Procurement, Asset management, Training, Service delivery and Representative Bodies.

• PPE manufacturers and bodies that set the classification standards for PPE.

• HSE

Who’s in the Challenge Sponsor team?

Operational, Prevention, Protection and Preparedness and ICT Colleagues. Significant SFRS internal staff resources will be provided as required to support the Challenge, including those who are experts in this field.  For example, Health and Wellbeing and Safety and Assurance professionals.

Data will be provided in line with GDPR regulations and the parties will be required to sign up to a data sharing agreement where personal/sensitive data is processed.   

Any prior research conducted will be shared.

What is the policy background to the Challenge?

You may be interested in looking at the following information;

• DECON: Fire Contaminants | Campaign (fbu.org.uk)

• Scottish Firefighters Occupational Cancer and Disease Mortality Rates: 2000-2020 | Occupational Medicine | Oxford Academic (oup.com)

• Contamination of UK firefighters personal protective equipment and workplaces | Scientific Reports (nature.com)