Search and Rescue Activities by the Fire and Rescue Service - Assignment Example

Law, Globalisation and Ethics: Search and Rescue Activities by the Fire and Rescue Service Introduction Search and Rescue involves locating and recovering people who may be in distress, potential distress or missing and taking them to a place of safety. The United Kingdom (Great Britain and Northern Ireland) offers a detailed search and rescue service for those reported in trouble be it on land, water or in air and for those reported missing. The comprehensive organisation of search and rescue facilitators as well as search and rescue teams using an elaborate communication infrastructure offers a well-planned search and rescue model.1 In accordance with this, any fire authority that aspires to become part of the United Kingdom’s International Search and Rescue Team must coordinate its activities in line with the principles of the Search and Rescue Framework of the United Kingdom. This paper assesses the issues that affect search and rescue operations legally, ethically and globally. The paper uses the United Kingdom search and rescue standards as a benchmark against which the new Fire Authority’s operations will be based. Essentially, the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 is used to address the various issues that guide fire and rescue services in the United Kingdom and how they can be applied globally. As fire and rescue operations are not limited to territorial jurisdictions, the paper discusses how the new Fire Authority can apply the search and rescue regulations of the United Kingdom to partake in international rescue operations such as the Haiti earthquake disaster. 1. Legal issues in search and rescue It is of the essence that search and rescue personnel should completely familiarise themselves with the relevant applicable local laws and regulations before partaking in or teaching search and rescue operations management. Along this line, search and rescue organisations should seek competent legal council before developing a response capacity. Standard of care All rescue personnel are obligated by law to behave or act toward others in a certain way irrespective of the activity involved. Depending on the condition, one may have a responsibility to either act or not act. Usually, it is likely that when one’s activities have the potential to cause harm, she or he should be concerned about the safety and wellbeing of others. How one behaves or acts is referred to as a standard of care.2 A number of factors affect the standard of care and thus the appropriateness of one’s conduct. Relevant local customs, ordinances, regulations, statutes, and professional and institutional standards all have a bearing on the level of one’s actions. Standard care is legally defined as how a rationally sensible person with similar experience and training would act under comparable circumstances, with similar devices or equipment, and in the same place.3 Duty to act Search and rescue personnel also have a duty to act. This is the responsibility to provide care or services. The responsibility may arise from law or be supplementary to the function being performed. For instance, bystanders are under no legal obligation to help a stranger in distress. Nevertheless, there is likely to be a duty to act if one is charged with providing search and rescue services. Search and rescue organisations are also required to enter into agreements with local and state government agencies that mandate the organisation to respond when called upon. This may also constitute a duty to act. Importantly, the requirements and ramifications of any such agreements must be fully understood by everyone within the organisation. Engendered reliance This refers to a situation in which the service users assume that a search and rescue provider will offer a certain level of service. As long as the expectations of the users are in line with the capabilities of the providers, there is no problem. However, if for instance the capability of the search and rescue providers is reduced and the need for, and expectation of a higher level or particular service prevails, a discrepancy arises. If a search and rescue organisation (such as the fire authority) fails to offer the service on which the user has become reliant, the organisation may be deemed liable for the discrepancy. There are many cases in which search and rescue organisations have advertised a higher level of service based only one or two capabilities. The advertising may put the organisation in a dangerous spot when it is eventually proved that it cannot deliver to the expectations. This can be a legal problem. In order to ensure that the fire authority delivers what is expected of it, including in international assignments such as the Haiti earthquake disaster, it should consult the relevant councils on what is expected in catastrophes of different magnitudes. One way to avoid problems is to make sure that the authority has a clear, succinct and updated mission statement that gives the public a realistic expectation of what the group can do and what it cannot.4 Negligence The outcome of any rescue mission is often unpredictable. Unfortunately, there are instances when the subject of a search and rescue incident can allege that the care rendered of the rescue offered was improper, insufficient, or slipshod. Negligence refers to the failure to offer the same care to someone with similar training, and in a similar situation would provide.5 It is a deviation from the accepted standard of care that ends up in the perceptible injury of another. The determination of negligence requires that all of these four factors be present: Duty: The rescuer had a responsibility to act plausibly within his or her training. Breach of duty: The rescuer fell short of performing that duty and did not behave within the accepted and rational standard of care. Damages: The subject was harmed or injured. Cause: The rescuer’s failure was the cause of the victim’s injury or loss. These four requirements can be used as the basis of lawsuits. Abandonment Abandonment implies the unilateral termination of care without the patient’s sanction and without making any arrangements for continuing care. In almost all cases, once in progress, providers have a duty to continue care until an equally capable person takes the responsibility. Failure to perform this duty can harm the patient and may be an embodiment of negligence. Abandonment can result in both civil and criminal actions against search and rescue personnel and should thus be taken very seriously. Consent In an emergency scenario, when a person is injured and incapable of providing expressed consent, or if there is a life-threatening situation, the law assumes that the person would grant permission for treatment anyway.6 This is referred to as implied consent and applies any time a person is physically not in a position to give expressed consent. Search and rescue personnel must thus be informed about to deal with various issues regarding consent in emergency settings. Documentation A complete and accurate record of search and rescue operation is a vital safeguard against legal complications. The absence of such a record, or incompleteness of the same, may imply that someone would have to testify regarding the events and activities pertaining to the incident from memory alone. This could be embarrassing and could lead to questions about the suitability of other aspects of the incident. It is evident that nowadays radio messages and paper-based exchange of messages have obvious problems in terms of information loss, time efficiency and documentation prospects.7 A good channel of communication has to be established to ensure efficiency of operations at all levels including the Gold, Silver and Bronze commands. Relevance of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 in search and rescue The roles of fire authorities are not just limited to fire safety and fire fighting, but cover the wider scope of dealing with emergencies. Article 9 of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 stipulates that “the Secretary of State may by order confer on a fire and rescue authority functions relating to emergencies, other than fires and road traffic accidents in relation to which the authority has functions”8 that involve rescue and mitigation of the consequences of disasters. Article 9 also states conditions under which a fire authority may be authorised to secure the provision of staff, equipment and services, provision of training, arrange for dealing with calls for help and convening personnel, arrange for obtaining requisite information for the purpose of discharging the required service, and arrange for ascertaining that reasonable steps are taken to avert or limit damage to property.9 This section thus deals with most of the legal issues that were mentioned earlier in this paper, such as duty to act, engendered reliance and documentation. Article 11 of the Act (Power to respond to other eventualities) also highlights the measures that may be taken by a fire authority in response to an emergency.10 This section deals with issues regarding consent and negligence, such as handling situations in which people are likely to die, be injured or become ill, and where there is harm to the environment. Engendered reliance is also highlighted as fire authorities partaking in particular operations may be entrusted to provide particular equipment and offer particular services. 2. Ethical issues in search and rescue A disaster such as the Haiti earthquake is an example of a complex humanitarian emergency, which is a crisis in life support that poses a threat to a large civilian population with suffering and death and inflicts severe constraints upon those who seek to provide assistance.11 It is essential that a fire authority on an international mission such as the offering assistance during Haiti earthquake disaster should develop an understanding of the major social and psychological issues involved in responding to large numbers of people who have lost essential ties to their communities and environment. Most natural disasters such as the Haiti earthquake require decisions regarding population evacuation and shelter. In such instances, human security and ethical issues arise around the timing of evacuation decisions, the manner in which these decisions are implemented, choice and preparation of sites for shelter, and decisions that relate to the maintenance of family and social units. Disasters have always had enormous symbolic significance, and their interpretation still presents an ethical dilemma. In general, people who are affected may refuse to leave their homes, wish to carry many belongings with them, and seek to stay in temporary housing with their own family members or groups.12 Often, in the confusion that engulfs emergencies, these human concerns can be overlooked, resulting in real social and psychological distress. In addition, populations are not homogenous with regards to language, access to external resources or literacy. They are also not uniformly vulnerable to the disaster threat, in that people in various locations may be more susceptible to the threat than others. Further, some populations may not be easily reached with the information that they need. To be effective, a practitioner has to understand all these issues and how to go about them to avoid unethical behaviour. In any disaster, some people and organisations take action while others fail to. The reason for this difference is the mental acceptance of the fact that a crisis could indeed occur. People who are mentally prepared tend to have a high degree of ethical behaviour, integrity, and courage to face the reality and deal with the disaster. They choose not ignore the fact that they are vulnerable to some level that could jeopardise their activities.13 Practitioners have to work closely with the people they are supporting to ensure that they actually feel the support. One way of doing this is through creating opportunities for supporting local decision making that do not overlook wider contexts and which use appropriate technology as one element of broad-based approaches, rather than relying on top-down approaches that rely solely on technology. Practitioners can also create opportunities that link disaster reduction with wider livelihoods and sustainability activities. Importantly, they need to create opportunities for reducing vulnerability in order to explore alternatives to hazard alteration and control hazard control.14 How globalisation affects the legislative and substantive work of those in fire and rescue service With globalisation, several changes have taken place with reference to search and rescue activities around the world. Some of these are highlighted next. Mass communications Satellite technology enables people to determine their exact position, get precise images of visible changes on the earth’s surface and send information instantly in a variety of forms such as graphic, audio or written. In the wake of wireless broadcasting, diffusion of global consciousness has increased.15 Global communications have also contributed to the symbolic significance of disasters, and although the interpretation has changed over the years, the less symbolism is equally as potent as it was in the past. Paradoxically, the globalisation of information about disasters has not dispelled some of the common myths or misassumptions. If anything, some misconceptions have been propagated by the advanced media. For instance, there is a common misconception among the media that dead bodies cause disease and epidemics among survivors of disasters. This is a rumour that any concerned fire authority on an international mission such as the Haiti earthquake operation has to dispel. Practitioners also have a big challenge to help disaster survivors cope with the prevalence panic and irrational behaviour. Conflict during disasters Tasks that involve extrication and rescue present a major ethical dilemma in today’s world. Advances in technology mean that that there is better equipment to deal with the aftermaths of disasters. But there is a challenge, for instance in deciding the kind of equipment to use in a given scenario. Heavy equipment can be used to excavate an earthquake scene quickly but also poses a challenge because it can cause greater loss of life to those still trapped in collapsed building debris. Article 45 of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 applies here in that fire authority personnel have to be careful on the selection of persons to participate in rescue missions in catastrophes of different magnitudes as well as choice of equipment to be used.16 Deciding when to halt search and rescue procedures and turn to demolition to retrieve bodies is also one area that presents conflict during disasters. To be effective in this regard, a fire authority that aspires to be effective in its search and rescue mission should consider working with the United Kingdom Cospas-Sarsat Mission Control Centre (UKMCC), which is an international organisation that utilises satellite technology to detect active radio beacons anywhere on earth to guarantee that the distress alert is passed quickly to the concerned rescue teams. This is one of the benefits of globalisation as the system ensures that rescuers can arrive at the disaster scene on time and hence avert losses that can be avoided. Conclusion This paper has discussed the issues that affect search and rescue operations legally ethically, and globally as far as a fire authority partaking in international rescue missions is concerned. The Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 has various provisions to guide fire authorities in articulating these issues. In particular, there are provisions that ensure that fire authorities carry out their operations within the legal and ethical limits. Globalisation issues, especially advances in technology and how they affect disasters and rescue operations have been discussed. To improve efficiency in response, it has been suggested that a fire authority aspiring to partake in international rescue missions should engage other bodies such as UKMCC to improve information exchange. Read More