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11 July 2025
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Featured FRI Magazine article: Developing procedures for the use of breathing apparatus by Etienne du Toit
A thorough risk management plan will greatly reduce the likelihood of injury
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The fundamental skills acquired through training and a high level of fitness are prerequisites
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https://www.frimedia.org/uploads/1/2/2/7/122743954/fri_vol_3_no_7.pdf
This week’s featured Fire and Rescue International magazine article is: Developing procedures for the use of breathing apparatus written by Etienne du Toit, deputy director: Fire Brigade Services, Western Cape Government (FRI Vol 3 no 7). We will be sharing more technical/research/tactical articles from Fire and Rescue International magazine on a weekly basis with our readers to assist in technology transfer. This will hopefully create an increased awareness, providing you with hands-on advice and guidance. All our magazines are available free of charge in PDF format on our website and online at ISSUU. We also provide all technical articles as a free download in our article archive on our website.
Developing procedures for the use of breathing apparatus
By Etienne du Toit, Deputy Director: Fire Brigade Services, Western Cape Government
I recently received a request from a fire service to provide them with a standard operating procedure (SOP) for the use of breathing apparatus. Subsequent discussions revealed a lack of understanding of the entire risk assessment process. Standard operating procedures are merely a component of a far bigger process. This article merely seeks to provide a broad overview of the process by linking it to relevant legislation, codes of practice and best practice. It goes without say that proficiency gained through training as well as a high level of fitness are prerequisites for any person engaging breathing apparatus operation.
Legal and regulatory framework
Act no 85 of 1993: Occupational Health and Safety Act as amended by the Occupational Health and Safety Amendment Act, No 181 of 1993 provides for the health and safety of persons in connection with the use of plant and machinery; protection of persons other than persons at work against hazards to health and safety arising out of or in connection with the activities of persons at work; to establish an advisory council for occupational health and safety and to provide for matters connected therewith.
The Act applies to all activities of public fire and rescue services as the employers of fire and rescue personnel.
These health and safety duties are not regarded as absolute and are qualified by the test of what is reasonably practicable. The Act, therefore, does not require all risks to be eliminated and indeed recognises that, even when all reasonably practicable precautions have been taken to deal with foreseeable risks, harm could still occur. This may be referred to as the residual risk. It also recognises that both the employer as well as the employee has responsibilities towards health and safety.
NFPA 1500 recognises that fire fighters operate in a dynamic and potentially hazardous environment. They operate at incidents that may involve fire, chemicals, biological hazards, radiation and several others.
Breathing apparatus enables fire fighters to breathe safely in otherwise hostile atmospheres. Its use is one of the risk control measures likely to be employed within the overall operational plan for incidents involving fire and hazardous materials. Some incidents may require a higher level of protection ie fully encapsulating entry suit.
Personal protective equipment, which includes breathing apparatus, should only be used where other control measures are not able to ensure the safety of fire fighters so far as is reasonably practicable. Personal protective equipment, where deployed, should form part of an overall safe system of work. It is recognised that there are circumstances where breathing apparatus will provide the key risk control measure. It is also accepted that there may be other measures, such as ventilation that may be applied simultaneously to reduce the risk even further.
This article seeks to provide clarity on how to apply risk assessment as contemplated in both the Act as well as SANS 10090 through FPA 1500 to develop a safe system of work for command and control in the use of breathing apparatus. It hopefully also provides for a consistency of approach across various services, forms the basis for common standard operational procedures.
Breathing apparatus command and control procedures represent just one of the suite of safe systems established within any operational risk management plan involving any of the hazardous scenarios, listed above, that are likely to be encountered by firefighters. Therefore, most generic risk assessments are considered relevant to a greater or lesser extent in this context.
Risk assessment process
The four levels, sometimes referred to as pillars, of operational risk assessment. Adapted from “United Kingdom Department of Communities and Local Government: Fire and Rescue Authority - Operational guidance for Breathing Apparatus” and aligned to the Occupational Health and Safety Act, 85 of 1993, Department of Labour, Republic of South Africa.
Level 1: Generic risk assessment
Generic risk assessments are nationally or in South Africa’s case, internationally produced guidance where the fire service shares the experiences gained at operational incidents. They provide hazard, risk and control measures information to support and inform the development of individual fire service’s incident-specific risk assessments. This is typically the NFPA 1500 as adopted through SANS 10090:2003: Community protection against fire. This level, together with the provisions of the Act determines the need for formal and very specific procedures.
Level 2: Strategic risk assessment
Generic risk assessments cannot be applied directly to the activities of an individual fire service. By definition they are ‘generic’. In themselves, they do not satisfy the individual fire service’s legal requirement for conducting a suitable and sufficient assessment of foreseeable risk within their authority area. This is also the level at which organisation policy is set and specific standard operating procedures generated. Although all levels are inter dependent, this is the level where the risk assessment as contemplated in the Act is performed.
Level 3: Dynamic/incident risk assessment
Dynamic/incident risk assessment is the process by which, as the nominated competent person, an incident commander will identify the hazards and risks faced by those in attendance at a tactical level of an operational incident or scheduled drill/training exercise. At emergency incidents, these will always be informed by the priorities of incident command, namely:
Standard operating procedures and/or guidelines are crucial at this level. Training opportunities for the incident commander should integrate risk management into the regular functions of incident command. Risk assessment at this level will determine the tactics to be used.
Level 4: Individual risk assessment
In most cases, operational incidents are dealt with by fire fighters working alongside and under the direct supervision of their line managers. However, the use of breathing apparatus might often entail that wearers are required to work remotely at task level and make decisions for themselves, when incident risk assessment will only have been able to take account of incident hazards and risks that are reasonable to expect, foresee or be aware of. At this level, the fire fighter assumes responsibility for his/her decisions.
According to the United Kingdom Department of Communities and Local Government: Fire and Rescue Authority-Operational guidance for Breathing Apparatus, there is another layer of risk assessment, one designed to inform personal safety in circumstances where unsupervised fire fighters may encounter an unexpected or unforeseen situation.
Individual risk assessment is the process of maintaining situational awareness (SA), identifying hazards and assessing risk in order to inform and influence the risk taking behaviour and actions of fire fighters when they encounter these conditions, often under punishing and life threatening circumstances. The term ‘calculated risk’ becomes very relevant at both tactical and task levels. In these cases the appetite to tolerate risk may increase if there is a lot to be gained, for example, fire fighters may enter a burning building if lives may be saved. A similar incident may call for a completely defensive approach if no lives are at stake.
It is clear that all levels of the organisation have equal responsibility when it comes to the safe use of breathing apparatus.
This week’s featured Fire and Rescue International magazine article is: Developing procedures for the use of breathing apparatus written by Etienne du Toit, deputy director: Fire Brigade Services, Western Cape Government (FRI Vol 3 no 7). We will be sharing more technical/research/tactical articles from Fire and Rescue International magazine on a weekly basis with our readers to assist in technology transfer. This will hopefully create an increased awareness, providing you with hands-on advice and guidance. All our magazines are available free of charge in PDF format on our website and online at ISSUU. We also provide all technical articles as a free download in our article archive on our website.
Developing procedures for the use of breathing apparatus
By Etienne du Toit, Deputy Director: Fire Brigade Services, Western Cape Government
I recently received a request from a fire service to provide them with a standard operating procedure (SOP) for the use of breathing apparatus. Subsequent discussions revealed a lack of understanding of the entire risk assessment process. Standard operating procedures are merely a component of a far bigger process. This article merely seeks to provide a broad overview of the process by linking it to relevant legislation, codes of practice and best practice. It goes without say that proficiency gained through training as well as a high level of fitness are prerequisites for any person engaging breathing apparatus operation.
Legal and regulatory framework
Act no 85 of 1993: Occupational Health and Safety Act as amended by the Occupational Health and Safety Amendment Act, No 181 of 1993 provides for the health and safety of persons in connection with the use of plant and machinery; protection of persons other than persons at work against hazards to health and safety arising out of or in connection with the activities of persons at work; to establish an advisory council for occupational health and safety and to provide for matters connected therewith.
The Act applies to all activities of public fire and rescue services as the employers of fire and rescue personnel.
These health and safety duties are not regarded as absolute and are qualified by the test of what is reasonably practicable. The Act, therefore, does not require all risks to be eliminated and indeed recognises that, even when all reasonably practicable precautions have been taken to deal with foreseeable risks, harm could still occur. This may be referred to as the residual risk. It also recognises that both the employer as well as the employee has responsibilities towards health and safety.
NFPA 1500 recognises that fire fighters operate in a dynamic and potentially hazardous environment. They operate at incidents that may involve fire, chemicals, biological hazards, radiation and several others.
Breathing apparatus enables fire fighters to breathe safely in otherwise hostile atmospheres. Its use is one of the risk control measures likely to be employed within the overall operational plan for incidents involving fire and hazardous materials. Some incidents may require a higher level of protection ie fully encapsulating entry suit.
Personal protective equipment, which includes breathing apparatus, should only be used where other control measures are not able to ensure the safety of fire fighters so far as is reasonably practicable. Personal protective equipment, where deployed, should form part of an overall safe system of work. It is recognised that there are circumstances where breathing apparatus will provide the key risk control measure. It is also accepted that there may be other measures, such as ventilation that may be applied simultaneously to reduce the risk even further.
This article seeks to provide clarity on how to apply risk assessment as contemplated in both the Act as well as SANS 10090 through FPA 1500 to develop a safe system of work for command and control in the use of breathing apparatus. It hopefully also provides for a consistency of approach across various services, forms the basis for common standard operational procedures.
Breathing apparatus command and control procedures represent just one of the suite of safe systems established within any operational risk management plan involving any of the hazardous scenarios, listed above, that are likely to be encountered by firefighters. Therefore, most generic risk assessments are considered relevant to a greater or lesser extent in this context.
Risk assessment process
The four levels, sometimes referred to as pillars, of operational risk assessment. Adapted from “United Kingdom Department of Communities and Local Government: Fire and Rescue Authority - Operational guidance for Breathing Apparatus” and aligned to the Occupational Health and Safety Act, 85 of 1993, Department of Labour, Republic of South Africa.
Level 1: Generic risk assessment
Generic risk assessments are nationally or in South Africa’s case, internationally produced guidance where the fire service shares the experiences gained at operational incidents. They provide hazard, risk and control measures information to support and inform the development of individual fire service’s incident-specific risk assessments. This is typically the NFPA 1500 as adopted through SANS 10090:2003: Community protection against fire. This level, together with the provisions of the Act determines the need for formal and very specific procedures.
Level 2: Strategic risk assessment
Generic risk assessments cannot be applied directly to the activities of an individual fire service. By definition they are ‘generic’. In themselves, they do not satisfy the individual fire service’s legal requirement for conducting a suitable and sufficient assessment of foreseeable risk within their authority area. This is also the level at which organisation policy is set and specific standard operating procedures generated. Although all levels are inter dependent, this is the level where the risk assessment as contemplated in the Act is performed.
Level 3: Dynamic/incident risk assessment
Dynamic/incident risk assessment is the process by which, as the nominated competent person, an incident commander will identify the hazards and risks faced by those in attendance at a tactical level of an operational incident or scheduled drill/training exercise. At emergency incidents, these will always be informed by the priorities of incident command, namely:
- Life safety
- Incident stabilisation
- Property and environmental preservation
Standard operating procedures and/or guidelines are crucial at this level. Training opportunities for the incident commander should integrate risk management into the regular functions of incident command. Risk assessment at this level will determine the tactics to be used.
Level 4: Individual risk assessment
In most cases, operational incidents are dealt with by fire fighters working alongside and under the direct supervision of their line managers. However, the use of breathing apparatus might often entail that wearers are required to work remotely at task level and make decisions for themselves, when incident risk assessment will only have been able to take account of incident hazards and risks that are reasonable to expect, foresee or be aware of. At this level, the fire fighter assumes responsibility for his/her decisions.
According to the United Kingdom Department of Communities and Local Government: Fire and Rescue Authority-Operational guidance for Breathing Apparatus, there is another layer of risk assessment, one designed to inform personal safety in circumstances where unsupervised fire fighters may encounter an unexpected or unforeseen situation.
Individual risk assessment is the process of maintaining situational awareness (SA), identifying hazards and assessing risk in order to inform and influence the risk taking behaviour and actions of fire fighters when they encounter these conditions, often under punishing and life threatening circumstances. The term ‘calculated risk’ becomes very relevant at both tactical and task levels. In these cases the appetite to tolerate risk may increase if there is a lot to be gained, for example, fire fighters may enter a burning building if lives may be saved. A similar incident may call for a completely defensive approach if no lives are at stake.
It is clear that all levels of the organisation have equal responsibility when it comes to the safe use of breathing apparatus.
The need for a risk management plan
Although this article focused on risk management in the context of breathing apparatus, the organisational risk management plan shall at least cover the risks associated with the following:
A thorough risk management plan will greatly reduce the likelihood of injury. Risk management should focus on two main components: risk assessment and risk control. The assessment should be used to identify known or potential hazards. Risk control calls for a closer look at these hazards and then identifies how they could negatively impact the department. Each hazard should be assigned a risk level. The risk level is based on the hazard’s probability of occurrence, the severity of the consequences and the potential level of exposure. Risk control measures must be adopted when the level of risk is determined to be unacceptable. Risk factors to examine may include the department’s jurisdiction, the population serviced and the organisation’s personnel. Analyse each risk factor and develop a mitigation plan.
Developing a risk management plan
Developing a plan should begin with the selection of a risk management committee. This is based on the assumption that a documented health and safety policy is in place. This function could potentially be assigned to the health and safety committee as contemplated in the Act, provided that the members are well versed and experienced in all aspects of fire service operations.
The committee is usually composed of individuals charged with overseeing risk-prone areas. The committee should meet on a regular basis to discuss concerns based on each member’s area of responsibility. Meetings can be used to evaluate and determine organisational goals, voice concerns and revise previous solutions or processes. The risk management plan should be a written document that has been adopted by the fire service and distributed to members with responsibilities outlined in the plan. The risk management plan should apply to all aspects of a fire services operations and activities, including emergency operations and should be communicated throughout the organisation.
This process should have the following outcomes:
The above will form part of the total risk management plan. The absence of one or more of any of the above elements may be interpreted as being in contravention of certain provisions of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, 85 of 1993-Department of Labour, Republic of South Africa.
Recent tragic events involving South African fire fighters whilst wearing breathing apparatus, as well as preceding ‘near miss’ incidents, again emphasise the importance of risk assessment in the fire service.
References
Although this article focused on risk management in the context of breathing apparatus, the organisational risk management plan shall at least cover the risks associated with the following:
- Administration
- Facilities
- Training
- Vehicle operations, both emergency and non-emergency
- Protective clothing and equipment
- Operations at emergency incidents
- Operations at non-emergency incidents
- Other related activities
A thorough risk management plan will greatly reduce the likelihood of injury. Risk management should focus on two main components: risk assessment and risk control. The assessment should be used to identify known or potential hazards. Risk control calls for a closer look at these hazards and then identifies how they could negatively impact the department. Each hazard should be assigned a risk level. The risk level is based on the hazard’s probability of occurrence, the severity of the consequences and the potential level of exposure. Risk control measures must be adopted when the level of risk is determined to be unacceptable. Risk factors to examine may include the department’s jurisdiction, the population serviced and the organisation’s personnel. Analyse each risk factor and develop a mitigation plan.
Developing a risk management plan
Developing a plan should begin with the selection of a risk management committee. This is based on the assumption that a documented health and safety policy is in place. This function could potentially be assigned to the health and safety committee as contemplated in the Act, provided that the members are well versed and experienced in all aspects of fire service operations.
The committee is usually composed of individuals charged with overseeing risk-prone areas. The committee should meet on a regular basis to discuss concerns based on each member’s area of responsibility. Meetings can be used to evaluate and determine organisational goals, voice concerns and revise previous solutions or processes. The risk management plan should be a written document that has been adopted by the fire service and distributed to members with responsibilities outlined in the plan. The risk management plan should apply to all aspects of a fire services operations and activities, including emergency operations and should be communicated throughout the organisation.
This process should have the following outcomes:
- Policy document
- Documented risk assessment
- Meeting schedule, including minutes and action items
- Standard operating procedures for the command and control of breathing apparatus
The above will form part of the total risk management plan. The absence of one or more of any of the above elements may be interpreted as being in contravention of certain provisions of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, 85 of 1993-Department of Labour, Republic of South Africa.
Recent tragic events involving South African fire fighters whilst wearing breathing apparatus, as well as preceding ‘near miss’ incidents, again emphasise the importance of risk assessment in the fire service.
References
- Occupational Health and Safety Act, 85 of 1993-Department of Labour, Republic of South Africa.
- SANS 10090:2003 Edition 3 Community protection against fire Standards South Africa.
- Understanding and Implementing Standards, NFPA 1500, 1720 and 1851, National Fire Protection Association.
- United Kingdom Department of Communities and Local Government: Fire and Rescue Authority - Operational guidance for Breathing Apparatus.