On 26-27 April 2019, the NO-FEAR workshop on scene security and Ballistic Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) brought together over 55 stakeholders from across Europe and beyond (Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Spain, and the UK).
NO-FEAR is an EU-funded 5-year Coordination and Support Action project that tackles the emerging threats, security issues and social changes in the EU emergency medical care.
It works towards bringing together two networks:
- a practitioners, decision and policy makers network
- a supplier and academia network
so as to enhance the response to security-related incidents. Furthermore, NO-FEAR supports this multi-disciplinary, multi-national, and multi-sectorial collaboration providing virtual tools, including the NO-FEAR platform, and works to facilitate collaboration between the network members, hosting networking events every six months.
Within NO-FEAR, Trilateral Research leads the development of the communication and exploitation of the project to raise awareness and maximise its impact.
Scene security and Ballistic Personal Protective Equipment
On 26-27 April 2019, the workshop was held alongside the EMS2019 conference in Madrid and included representatives from first responder organisations (ambulance, police, fire), medical services, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), government agencies, research and academia, and industry.
The workshop kicked off with a welcome from the NO-FEAR partners hosting the event – SAMUR Proteccion Civil and Magen David Adom (MDA). Held as part of the project’s Work Package focusing on acute care operations in security incidents, the first-day workshop addressed scene security and the second Ballistic PPE.
Participants had the opportunity to listen to practitioners working in the field recounting their personal experiences in responding to terrorist attacks. Thought-provoking presentations were given by representatives from:
- London Ambulance Service presenting on the Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Principles (JESIP) and the response to terrorist attacks in London
- Berlin Fire and Police Departments presenting on the 2016 Christmas market terror attack in Berlin
- Servei d’Emergències Mèdiques de Catalunya presenting on the 2017 Las Ramblas terror attacks in Barcelona
- MDA presenting on scene security – the Israeli concept
The sessions focusing on Ballistic Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) on 27 April provided participants with information and guidance on the different types of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and the key considerations when purchasing it. The workshop participants also had the opportunity to both see and wear different types of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) that are used to respond to different types of emergencies.
The two-day workshop was brought to an end by the EMS2019 closing keynote speeches which provided attendees with insights into the responses to the 2019 New Zealand, 2016 Berlin, and 2015 Paris terror attacks. Attendees also got to experience the response to an attack first-hand in the form of a simulation exercise. The NO-FEAR workshop participants were actively involved in this exercise by treating the “casualties”.
The success of the workshop was highlighted by the event hosts, SAMUR-Protección Civil: “After having had the honour of hosting the meeting in Madrid, SAMUR-Protección Civil would like to thank the participants of NO-FEAR project for their assistance and valuable contributions. We are satisfied with the cooperation between practitioners, academia and industry and with the obtained results of the workshop that will contribute to the progress of the project”.
The co-organiser of the event, MDA, also acknowledged the success of the workshop by thanking guests and consortium members for their active participation and substantial contributions to the work of NO-FEAR. “We are certain that the outcomes of this workshop will lead to better capacity building of our response procedures to security-related incidents”.
