Innovation, learning and collaboration at ESS

Taking place on 21-22 September 2016, the Emergency Services Show will engage all those involved in emergency prevention, response and recovery.

This year’s Emergency Services Show takes place in the Hall 5 at the NEC, Birmingham from 21-22 September 2016. New seminar programmes cover Lessons Learnt, ICT Innovation and PPE. Home Safety 2016 runs as a new stream within the show, the Drone Zone brings together everything UAV, while popular features like the Collaboration Zone have also been enlarged. With over 450 exhibiting companies and organisations, the expanded indoor and outdoor exhibition is a one-stop shop for sourcing all the latest services and equipment.

The Learning Zone Theatre
New for 2016, The Learning Zone Theatre features a free, two-day seminar programme curated and inspired by JESIP and the National Operational Guidance Programme for the Fire & Rescue Service. Sessions will review the multi-agency responses to recent incidents, identify the operational challenges and capture positive learning.

London Fire Brigade for example will be showcasing the results of Exercise Unified Response, the large scale and complex, live and command post exercise held earlier this year and based on a significant building collapse, incorporating heavy transport and mass casualties. Neil Stocker of West Sussex County Council will also share lessons learnt from the Shoreham Air Crash.

Drone Zone
As well as showcasing suppliers of UAV technology, the Drone Zone brings together industry specialists and end-users to share their knowledge and experience. Risk management, operational safety in both civil and commercial airspace, privacy, security and legislation will all be covered in the free seminar programme.

Home Safety 2016
In a new show – Home Safety 2016 – which runs alongside The Emergency Services Show, Emergency Services will share how they are collaborating to deliver a joined up approach to helping people live safely in their homes. Equipment suppliers will also showcase the very best specialist equipment the market has to offer for the safe home.

Opening the Home Safety 2016 seminar programme, Ged Devereux, health improvement manager at Public Health England North, will talk about the recently published document, Working Together, which explores how health, social care and fire and rescue services can increase their reach, scale and impact through joint working.

The seminar sessions which follow will include case studies from fire and rescue services who have expanded their work into the health area by working alongside the NHS, as well as partnering other agencies such as Age UK and the Alzheimer’s Society.

As Home Safety 2016 takes place during Gas Safety Week (19-25 September), the programme will also cover various aspects of gas safety, showing how fire and rescue services can work with partners at a local level to ensure that being CO aware is core to the safe and well visit.

Accident Investigation
The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) is one of three investigation branches of the Department for Transport, exhibiting at show.

Sid Hawkins, engineering support & HSE manager, AAIB. says: “The show enables us to discuss the developing interoperability between ourselves and other organisations in accident site operations, and helps us look at means of enhancing our contingency planning arrangements. We are planning to demonstrate how the use of remotely piloted vehicles will benefit safety and investigation activities, and will join with our rail and marine colleagues in illustrating how data recorders are used across our different transport modes.”

Mobile Communications and ESMCP
The emergency services mobile communications programme (ESMCP) is a new Home Office-led programme to provide integrated critical voice and broadband data services for the three emergency services. ESMCP representatives will be at the show to talk about the programme and answer questions. John Muench, Motorola Solutions’ program director for the Emergency Services Network, will be among speakers in the ICT Innovations Theatre where he will update delegates on ‘ESN Functionality: Capability in the Reference System supporting NAT Service’.

The Police ICT company is also exhibiting this year and its CEO Martin Wyke also speaks in the ICT Innovations Theatre on the Future of Police ICT.

The Collaboration Zone
Aimed at developing relationships and partnerships between voluntary organisations and the bluelight services, The Collaboration Zone is a networking focus of the show, featuring over 80 companies, government bodies, charities and other organisations.

Emergency Planning & Resilience
Resilience organisations exhibiting at the show include The Emergency Planning Society the Civil Contingencies Secretariat, CFOA NCP Hub, Institute of Civil Protection & Emergency Management and Resilience Direct. Exhibitors of particular interest to all involved in emergency planning include: United Kingdom Search & Rescue; Mountain Rescue England & Wales; HM Coastguard; British Cave Rescue Council; Public Health England; National Flood Forum; Training 4 Resilience; British Apco; and DFRMO.

Training Showcase
A wide variety of training organisations and providers specialising in emergency scenarios will feature at the show again this year. They include: 4C Strategies; the University of Central Lancashire; Training 4 Resilience; MDT Global Solutions; International Trauma Life Support; Emergency Response Driver Training; Crofton Engineering; and Coventry University.

4C Strategies helps organisations to ensure their people are equipped with the skills, tools and knowledge they need to deliver on their resilience mandates and to ensure effective response and recovery to major incidents and emergency situations. It is best known for its Exonaut training and exercise management solutions used by NATO, the British Army, London Fire Brigade and UK government departments.

The University of Central Lancashire’s (UCLan) fire science team is a major provider of degree programmes and CPD for fire and rescue services and professionals worldwide. UCLan PROTECT is the ‘Place for Resilient Organisations and Total Emergency Capability Training’, joining the university’s fire and policing expertise to a wider range of organisational resilience, business continuity and emergency and crisis management specialisms, using highly qualified experts from emergency management with a broad range of backgrounds and experience.

Training 4 Resilience (T4R) designs and develops table top and command centre exercises, which validate plans, develop staff competences and test established procedures for its clients. Having an independent assessment of arrangements is one of the major benefits of using T4R; and detailed post exercise reports provide documented evidence and recommendations for teams to consider following the event.

MDT Global Solutions offers educational technology in medical simulation and its products support scientific advances in clinical care. Its Academy of Professional Development, provides world-class training for medical professionals. Representatives from the academy will be at The Emergency Services Show, providing support and showcasing its latest products in the Trauma Care Training & Education Zone.

International Trauma Life Support (ITLS) provides trauma training for emergency care providers with a framework stressing rapid assessment, appropriate intervention and identification of immediate life threats.

Emergency Response Driver Training Ltd (ERDT) provides driver and instructor training, and support and resilience services to over 50 emergency services across the UK and worldwide. Its courses are based on the High Speed Driver Training (HSDT) codes of practice as per Section 19 of The Road Safety Act.

Crofton Engineering provides typical and bespoke training facilities for the fire and rescue and emergency services and specialises in buildings and structures for realistic training scenarios. Crofton has been working with an ambulance service Hazardous Area Response Team (HART) to create a manoeuvrable BA maze system.

Coventry University is a leading provider of emergency related courses and undertakes research and consultancy in aligned areas. The university offers emergency planning and management courses and internationally focused courses in Disaster Management.

Equipment Suppliers
With over 450 exhibiting companies and organisations, the enlarged exhibition is a one-stop shop for sourcing all the latest services and equipment. Exhibiting companies include leading names in: firefighting equipment; medical supplies; search and rescue; extrication; first response; water rescue; communications; IT; protective clothing and uniforms; vehicles and fleet; vehicle equipment; outsourcing; training; community safety; and station facilities.

Visitors to the Excelerate stand will be able to see the new joint command vehicle for police and fire services in Northamptonshire. Believed to be the only one of its kind in the UK, the new vehicle will be run by Northamptonshire Police and Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service and provide a base for commanders when in attendance at large scale or major incidents. It features a joint working space for police and fire operations, including a Command Conference Room with the ability to receive and view footage from remote cameras. It will also feature resilient communication technologies providing interoperability with EMAS Ambulance Hazardous Area Response Team command vehicles and be networks compatible with the Emergency Services Network (ESN).

Primetech will be launching the latest versions of its Tactical Response Vehicle (TRV) and demountable Pod Systems (MultiPod). Also on show will be the ground-breaking portable MultiNet Comms integrated communications system, delivering comprehensive incident ground communications using Ka-band mobile satellite broadband with C-COM satellite systems, drones and COFDM MESH Wi-Fi.

Westbase Technology, a leading 4G LTE and hybrid networking distributor, will feature a connected car solution, which will showcase a Wi-Fi hotspot delivered over 4G LTE, plus several connected applications such as in-vehicle CCTV.

Leading vehicle suppliers at the show include Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Jaguar Land Rover, Volvo Emergency Services Cars and Yamaha. They are joined by a wide range of specialist vehicle converters and vehicle equipment specialists. The BMW Group will exhibit operationally equipped, electrically propelled vehicles. Jaguar Land Rover will be displaying its latest Land Rover Discovery and Jaguar F-Pace models for emergency service use.

Getting to the Emergency Services Show
The NEC is linked to Birmingham International Station and Birmingham Airport and is directly accessible from the UK motorway network. Parking and entry to the exhibition and seminars at The Emergency Services Show are free.