2008 Woodie Awards
Mock spill readies students
Jason Hamilton
Issue date: 4/13/06 Section: News
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Central's safety science and public safety students performed a mock accident Tuesday to show the campus community what happens when there is an accident involving severe injuries, and hazardous chemicals.
A mock accident scenario is a practice run at a real-life work situation for safety science students, who use this experience to deal with situations that can occur in their field.
"This is more of an exercise for students [in the campus community] to observe," said Sean Douglass, assistant chief of the Warrensburg fire department.
The student scenario is done at a much slower pace to allow the public and other students to examine the procedures thoroughly.
According to Douglass, real emergency teams sharpen their skills and make adjustments to their procedures through similar scenarios; the only difference is they go full-speed.
The mock accident involved a tractor pulling a container full of hazardous chemicals, which was struck from the side by a truck.
The container burst open, and the man driving the tractor fell underneath it, with two broken legs.
The driver of the truck got out to help the man underneath the tractor, and noxious fumes from the chemicals overcame him. He fell next to the man under the tractor.
Both men were covered in the hazardous chemical when the students from Central's public safety ICAP class arrived to assess the situation.
After some quick deliberating, public safety students called for an ambulance and began to suit up in hazardous materials suits like those used by a hazardous materials (HAZMAT) squad.
They set up a decontamination station to wash and rinse the chemicals off the victims, and prepared them for evacuation.
The ambulance, the police and the fire crews were from the Warrensburg departments and used real equipment.
Life flight was also a part of the mock accident scenario. The victims were rushed to the helicopter that was waiting behind Garrison gymnasium. The victims were taken to a hospital in Kansas City.
A mock accident scenario is a practice run at a real-life work situation for safety science students, who use this experience to deal with situations that can occur in their field.
"This is more of an exercise for students [in the campus community] to observe," said Sean Douglass, assistant chief of the Warrensburg fire department.
The student scenario is done at a much slower pace to allow the public and other students to examine the procedures thoroughly.
According to Douglass, real emergency teams sharpen their skills and make adjustments to their procedures through similar scenarios; the only difference is they go full-speed.
The mock accident involved a tractor pulling a container full of hazardous chemicals, which was struck from the side by a truck.
The container burst open, and the man driving the tractor fell underneath it, with two broken legs.
The driver of the truck got out to help the man underneath the tractor, and noxious fumes from the chemicals overcame him. He fell next to the man under the tractor.
Both men were covered in the hazardous chemical when the students from Central's public safety ICAP class arrived to assess the situation.
After some quick deliberating, public safety students called for an ambulance and began to suit up in hazardous materials suits like those used by a hazardous materials (HAZMAT) squad.
They set up a decontamination station to wash and rinse the chemicals off the victims, and prepared them for evacuation.
The ambulance, the police and the fire crews were from the Warrensburg departments and used real equipment.
Life flight was also a part of the mock accident scenario. The victims were rushed to the helicopter that was waiting behind Garrison gymnasium. The victims were taken to a hospital in Kansas City.