The ‘Show-Piece’ Emergency Equipment

  •   Sat, Nov 13 2021
  •   By Vincent D’Sa, Dubai / Shankerpura

November 13, 2021

The title of the article may confuse you. In daily life, we see a few types of equipment meant to save meaningful lives from emergencies. What happens is in most of the situations, the person who is supposed to use it hardly ever touched it sane alone having used it to learn how to use those.

A few in the list are (1). Breathing mask in airplane (2). Life jacket in the case of ditching in the water. (3)To open emergency doors in the aircraft. (4). Fire extinguisher in the building and vehicles. (5). Smoke detectors in the building. Emergency situations like (1). Acid attack. (2).To contain the fire in the earlier stages. (3)CPR medical help during heart attack. (4). Snakebite. (5). Knife wound of stabbing. (6). Escaping the street dogs. (7). A lightning strike. (8). How to reach/talk to a person about committing suicide to name a few.

No doubt we may have watched a few air travel-related demonstrations umpteen times half-heartedly but never used the one. This makes a massive difference at the crucial moments, particularly so in an airplane where life and death decisions in seconds. The panic may make us forget everything. Therefore a practical application may help a lot.

Overcoming these drawbacks doesn’t cost much. Most of the time, after check-in, we get enough time to practice at least once / a couple of times when waiting for boarding. A piece of equipment should be kept to be handled by passengers familiar with it in an emergency. An oxygen mask, a life jacket, and an emergency door model should be made available at the airport.

Similarly, almost 90% of the people may have never used the fire extinguisher, either in the building or the vehicle. Therefore multi-story buildings society should arrange one such demo. Every resident should learn practically how to open it and spray effectively on the fire. The smoke detector is one more other vital things to add to the list. Most of us don’t even know how a smoke detector looks like. It doesn’t take any resources or huge time to eradicate these lifesaving drawbacks. Only our approach to it makes the outcome, the death toll, in case of a calamity.

Being not knowing how to use emergency equipment is equivalent to not having it.

A stab wound may be an everyday thing of the present and future. Therefore how to react to a stabbing incident should be known. Whether to remove the weapon from the wound or not when rushing to the hospital should be well known to all.

Heart attack is so common that anyone can be a victim anywhere. We read and see the victims daily. Therefore giving a CPR should be taught during academic level (colleges) itself at schools, churches, etc., rather than doing monotonous activities. Just an hour program in a year can make a huge difference in society during an emergency. Considering the happenings around us, at least one in a hundred should know how to perform a CPR on the spot before rushing to the hospital.

Many of us daily life routine essential things are half heatedly planned. It is because we are just interested in presenting things rather than utilizing them to save lives. One such incident, the Bhopal gas tragedy, killed so many lives overnight and left with a big disaster zone for years to come. Even after 35 years now, suffering has not ended. All that happened just because of one of the emergency requirements. The length of the water spraying pipe on the chimney to prevent gas in case of leaking by precipitating it was short in size by a few meters. The result is that water was not reaching the leaking gas. A few meters of a short length of the pipe caused the Bhopal gas tragedy.

We go to driving schools to obtain a driving license. They teach all other things but a few important things they don’t. Pedestrian psychology, mindset/body language, essential parts like the braking system should have been the first lesson. No one teaches there how to stop the car/vehicle in case break fails and cruise control fails to name a few other critical lifesaving things. Even in modern times, countries like Gulf, where driving licenses are so strict, don’t do this primarily because we don’t think about fundamentals.

I hope people at the authority level take appropriate measures to save lives. If not, we, the public, should act and demand such things. E.g.1;- residents of the high-rise building should force their society office bearers to hold one such fire extinguishing and smoke detector practice session at least once in two years. e.g. 2; - When you purchase a car or go to service, learn how to act when the break fails from the car mechanics.

Our understanding of the fundamentals of life savings can be a huge difference. Just because something is not in place, we have to live with the life-threatening drawbacks. We can take measures to correct at the individual level wherever possible and help others in emergencies.

 

 

 

 

 
By Vincent D’Sa, Dubai / Shankerpura
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Comment on this article

  • Suhas Shetty, Dubai

    Thu, Nov 18 2021

    Safety measures are everyone's responsibility. Good article Vincent.

  • Melvin, Muscat

    Wed, Nov 17 2021

    One of the best article on awareness. Thank you Vincent. I request someone in airlines industry send this article to their safety department and implement.

  • Stany Jovin Menezes, Muscat

    Mon, Nov 15 2021

    Very informative - Nice Article

  • Robin, Byndoor

    Mon, Nov 15 2021

    Nice article. I pray let this article should be read by Airport and Airlines Officials... It is a serious matter and concern. I appreciate your concern, ideas and support you.

  • Jennifer Gomes, Bangalore

    Sun, Nov 14 2021

    Very simple basic activities, but have to be taken seriously and they are very important for those critical times which are not frequent but can save lives. Awareness is important but we take it for granted having nil practical experience in these domains. The message in the article is important for all to make an effort practically Very true many places it's a show piece.

  • Vincent Paul, Udupi

    Sun, Nov 14 2021

    Nice article Vincy and very informative.


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