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Joint and Cooperative Efforts NPP Fire Service Staff Meeting

Fire Service and Damage Prevention Department of ATOMIX Ltd. provides mobile fire protection services for Paks Nuclear Power Plant on commercial basis as a full-time establishment-based fire service organization. Since the very beginning, Fire Service’ activities have been characterized by a high level of compliance with expectations, diverse professional qualifications of the staff and an advanced technical background. Working up to the expectations, NPP firemen successfully cope with the challenges of a scope of work increasing from year to year. Fire Chief Péter Böhm gave an account of this progress and other similar achievements at the Staff Meeting held on 15 January 2009 where commanders of the professional municipal Fire Departments of Tolna County, members of PA Zrt’s and ATOMIX Kft’s top management, chief executives of Disaster Management Directorate of Tolna County as well as representatives of ÁNTSZ (National Public Health and Medical Service), the head of Nukleo-Med Kft. and heads of local and county-level low enforcement agencies were also present as invited guests.
Fire Chief Péter Böhm preluded his account of the year 2008 of NPP Fire Service with an outline of the assignments of Fire Service that result from the relevant legislation and the contract concluded for the provision of professional services.
Concerning the Fire Service’ fire prevention activities, he said that they carried out regular checks on the proper storage of combustible and explosive substances, the compliance with company regulations for high fire risk work activities and the condition of above-ground fire hydrants of the high-pressure fire water system in the Power Plant. The number of checks in the turbine engine room (221) represents a significant portion of total fire examinations. Fire Service arranged 50 fire safety training events for the staff of the Plant’s Operational Department, covering the issues of combustion and extinction theory and the use of breathing apparatuses, oxygen self-rescuers and hand fire extinguishers. Within the framework of its fire-fighting and technical rescue activities, Fire Service provides 24-hour stand-by service, practices joint fire drills including the operational staff, conducts training and test drills in co-operation with the professional fire service personnel of municipalities and provides assistance to municipal Fire Departments if required.
Operating the Plant’s Ambulance Service, NPP Fire Service takes part in the provision of Plant-based emergency healthcare services and in taking the sick and injured to the hospital by ambulance car.
As part of ‘Other Tasks’ provided for in the Contract for Professional Services, NPP Fire Service conducted this year rescue operations in elevator accidents, rescue operations using alpine technology, as well as it explored and rectified root causes of operating troubles and outages, performed tasks under the General Emergency Management Action Plan and organized on-call duty service outside normal working, using the off-duty personnel. Also, NPP Fire Service fulfilled any demand and request by which it could promote Plant operation or its PR activity. Here are just a few examples: washing of the pulp reservoir on several occasions, fire demonstrations and foam parties on open days, sight-seeing from basket crane. Work at a height also occurred several times, including architectural correction of the main building, crane and air conditioner servicing and assistance in taking photos for publications on the Nuclear Power Plant.
In his account, Mr. Fire Chief also touched upon the administration. He said that the Fire Service has a single employee in charge of running, under heavy workloads, firemen’s document management system. Last year, the number of newly filed documents alone was 2200. In addition to that, the administrator had to work with and manage heaps of other documents.
Last year, the Fire Service received 197 calls in emergency; of which, 6 came in from outside the Plant. While 43 Plant alarms did not require any actual Fire Service intervention, 148 did. Ambulance calls (66) represent a major portion of this latter figure, with 50 cases of rescue from elevator and 26 of other technical rescue operations. Only 2 insignificant fires occurred in the Nuclear Power Plant in 2008 (garbage containers took fire in both cases).
Then, as regards HR activities, Mr. Fire Chief made a mention of the retired staff members, those who left for another job and the new employees. He outlined the official emoluments due to Fire Service employees and the level of staff members’ qualifications. Firemen working for NPP Fire Service are required to pass recurrent exams in 10 different compulsory subjects of instruction on an annual basis; in addition, they take part in preparatory training courses on a quarterly basis and various drills (checkups, evacuation, joint operation, etc.).
In the absence of chief ambulance officer dr. Gábor Szvitán, Fire Chief Péter Böhm provided oral information on NPP Ambulance Service operations in 2008. He said that the scope of professional activities if NPP Ambulance Service, active since November 2005, included the provision of acute healthcare services, preparations for potential emergencies, practicing drills (including simulated accidents), participation in primary and advanced healthcare training, and the provision of assistance to the Hungarian National Ambulance and Emergency Service to help rescue operations in case of mass accidents within a radius of 15 km from the Power Plant.
It was an advancement in firemen’s rescue capabilities that, early in the last year, an emergency kit and a semi-automatic defibrillator were installed on board a fire engine, the use of which has been learnt by learnt by all staff members. This way, emergency healthcare, from the treatment of wounds to basic resuscitation is provided throughout the Plant even when the ambulance car is out of reach.
Last year, our Ambulance Service provided care for 111 patients, including 51 injured ones (with injuries of limbs or the head), 33 suffering from medical problems (heart diseases, high blood pressure, allergy, etc.). The ambulance car undertook patient transport in 46 cases.
As regards ambulance-related training, it is noteworthy that 17 firemen acquired certified qualifications in ambulance attendance in 2008. On the other hand, ambulance doctors and officers are trained in local knowledge and the use of alpine technology and breathing apparatuses on a continuous basis. Generally speaking, the Ambulance Service of Paks Nuclear Power Plant functioned, making permanent efforts to prepare for potential health emergencies, successfully last year.
Then Fire Chief Péter Böhm outlined the Plant’s on-call duty system in place. He said that the Communication Service had a wider scope of responsibilities due to modernisation of the Plant’s fire alarm system, which required increased attention and commitment on the part of the Communication Service staff. Staff members are required to pass an exam every year in the theoretical knowledge and practical use of the technical means of communication, Communication Service Regulations and any related legislation. The on-call duty system was tested on a monthly basis last year in a random manner for appropriate functioning, and the staff on call managed to return to the Fire Station within the specified time limit in each case.
Within the framework of the NPP Fire Service-based healthcare and prevention programme, the physical and psychical condition of the staff is continuously monitored. Firemen should attend various regular aptitude tests, screening examinations and physical condition surveys, in addition to permanent medical checkups. The healthcare and prevention programme also provides efficient protection against various epidemical diseases; for example, it’s been years that all staff members are vaccinated against infections caused by ticks and flu.
NPP firemen also test themselves in various professional and sport contests. They were placed first at the County Competition of Professional Firefighters and took part in National Sports Competition of Firefighters ‘Count Ödön Széchenyi’ with success. They won a gold at the National Football Tournament of Full-time Establishment Firefighters and the first place at the tournament organized by Disaster Management Directorate of Tolna County, too.
Considering technical topics, Fire Chief said that, similarly to the practice established at the Plant in recent years, various sections of PA Zrt. provided for the operation and maintenance of Fire Station equipment. He mentioned, as a great result, that modernization of the heating system on the upper level of the Fire Station was finished and installation of the air conditioning system was started early in the last year. Doors of the Fire Depot were replaced in the second half of the last year. Several fire engines had undergone general overhaul by the end of the last year, which was very important for the safety of fire operations.
Next, Fire Chief provided information on the situation in terms of labour safety, the quality control system, inspections carried out by external authorities and media relations.
He mentioned, among the key tasks envisaged for 2009, the involving of professional firefighters of the municipalities in practicing and test drills, drills to be organized jointly with the Plant personnel, annual training of the personnel, practicing the operation of the mission control system, maintenance of, and compliance with, the Firefighting and Technical Rescue Plan, participation in the professional interest organizations and realization of the quality goals specified for 2009.

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Oral Contributions Following Fire Chief ‘s Account

Security Director of PA Zrt. István Radnóti emphasized that Paks Nuclear Power Plant, as the operator of the Fire Service, recognized the results acquired and would, as it did so far, provide appropriate means and equipment that represent a high technical standard and were required for fire operations in the future, too. He highly appreciated that firemen were eager to search for Plant areas where they could help, in addition to their particular basic tasks, company operations, getting engaged in other activities (such as emergency healthcare, training, special operational activities). He asked firemen to maintain this attitude to searching for areas where they could provide useful help in addition to their basic activities.
In addition, Director István Radnóti said that the successful functioning of the Nuclear Power Plant was, of course, an essential precondition for PA Zrt, as the operator of the Fire Service, to be able to provide appropriate background for fire services of sufficiently high quality. The year 2008 resulted in the highest production level ever experienced in the history of the Nuclear Power Plant. This was partly due to excellent security indices and the high quality standard of operation activities and, partly, to the fact that our performance improvement programme was completed. Already three blocks operate at a power level of 500 megawatts, and the fourth one also produces energy at a higher level. Performance improvement of Block III would come to an end this year.
Last year, NPP management submitted to the competent supervisory authority its programme for operation time extension and, thereby, took a big step towards a 20 years’ extension of the Power Plant’s operation time. As he added, the future use of atomic energy today came to the fore again in the context of the gas crisis, and decision-makers increasingly refer to the potential building of new blocks.

Deputy Director of Disaster Management Directorate of Tolna County and Chairman of Tolna County Fire Association István Gergelics proposed for next year’s Staff Meeting, going to be the 20th one, to recall these two decades in a retrospective presentation of Fire Service’ history using photos and films and to cite the documents of the account 19 years ago. Such a presentation would be sure to provide those present with lots of useful information, and would make it clear for all where and how the story of local fire department started and how it managed to get so far. This would provide some guidance and set an example for other fire departments and professional fire organizations.
Mr. Gergelics also spoke about fire staff fluctuations and the potential ways to correct the situation. He was pleased to mention the cooperation with the Mission Control Centre and expressed his hope that the Centre would continue to help the staff do drills and exercises and increase its local knowledge.
In conclusion, he thanked the staff for its work, which was a great contribution to the carrying out of events and fire contests arranged by Tolna County Fire Association.

Managing Director of Nukleo-Med Kft. Dr. Miklós Ótos, head physician and head of the Plant’s occupational health service, recalled that the cooperation with Fire Chief Péter Böhm dates far back in time, farther than when organization of the Ambulance Service was started. The Fire Chief was a willing partner even in the acceptance and operation of a simple health car, and he was starting to develop staff-level training in ambulance attendance as early as then, which was a great advantage in terms of setting up the Ambulance Service.
Head physician Dr. Ótos emphasized in his speech that relations between the Fire and Ambulance Service were always characterized by a cooperation based on mutual advantages. Both sides gained and benefited much from this cooperation. Organization of the Ambulance Service brought here many professionals, ambulance officers and doctors of the region much experienced in emergency healthcare to perform on-call duty service. They also contributed to the wide recognition of the Nuclear Power Plant. The Ambulance Service was equipped under their professional guidance and by the financial means provided by the Plant. Dr. Ótos expressed his firm belief in a continued and successfully developing cooperation.

by Mrs. Anna Lovásziné
MAGYAR TŰZOLTÓ – Internet Newspaper
January 2009