Martin Joosen, Managing Director of LION speaks about creating an effective fire training proposal for the business sector

Did you know that you only have 3 minutes to decide what to do when a fire breaks? Are you ready to react? Do you know what to do? Where do you start? Do you first call the fire department or grab the extinguisher right away?

Martin Joosen, Managing Director of LION, says it is only adequate fire training will warrant a safe outcome to these fire emergency situations. Martin joined LION in 2018 as managing director and is responsible for Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and the Pacific. He has more than 20 years of experience in International Business, 17 of which are in the Fire Rescue Market.

We sat down with Martin to talk through the company’s new market approach for business and industry sectors in EMEA, focusing on healthcare, the first sector where LION is implementing this new approach.

What kind of emergency scenarios require fire safety training?

Imagine: An electrical shortcut in a patient room, a fire in the kitchen, or a leaking oxygen hose within a medical centre. Those possible fire scenarios can easily create damages, reaching millions of euros and potentially mean human loss.

Fire safety training is not only a legal requirement but also saves lives and protects businesses. Setting up the right training environment is vital.

What does LION propose with product market combination?

All-in-one package to train staff directly on their work location. No team’s transfer to other buildings or premises with LION digital technology. Essential training can now be given where they work using the right combination of products. We have created four training packages to ensure that anyone on the scene knows how to react during the crucial first minutes, deal with fires if appropriate, and escape safely in the event of a fire. Those packages are based on different scenarios that could occur in the healthcare industry.

 Why did you created these packages?

Protecting life, property protection, and operation continuity are the most common fire safety objectives. Being able to recognise fire hazards can help prevent fires from happening. The number of fires in the healthcare sector is increasing yearly worldwide due to the growing number of mobile devices constantly charging. Due to the lack of regular training and healthcare personnel being overly busy, people’s behaviour can’t be predicted easily, and panic will take over.

All patients can’t be evacuated that easily. The best to do then is to contain the fire until the fire department arrives.

For which training scenario are these product combinations packages applicable?

Various procedures can be trained, such as handling fire extinguishers, tactical training for first intervention teams, incidents involving hazardous materials, and evacuation exercises.

The healthcare sector is a critical part of the economy, and emergency training is essential to ensuring that hospitals can function effectively at all times. However, the needs of healthcare facilities can vary significantly, and it can be challenging to create a training proposal that meets all the different requirements.

There are several ways to create a highly effective training proposal. One approach is to create a proposal tailored to the sector’s specific needs. Another method is to create a proposal tailored to the particular needs of businesses within the industry. The best approach will depend on the sector’s specific needs and the companies it targets. However, both techniques can be highly effective in meeting the needs of the business and industry sectors.

LION is an innovative technology company that delivers smart technology to develop life-saving products. Our mission is to use ground-breaking technology, to improve fire emergency situations training and understanding. For a few months, we collaborated and worked on feedback and requirements from fire safety professionals within healthcare structures. How have you developed your training solutions over the years?

LION’s Training Products are reliable, high-quality, and practical. We develop training tools to prepare any intervention team for emergencies.

We have worked closely with fire rescue services for more than 20 years and we can propose a training solution for almost all types of training. However, addressing the business and industry sector implied that we needed to adjust our approach and portfolio proposal. The requirements, thinking process and situation to consider can be very different, and each sector should have a training product proposal that matches their expectations.

When looking at those markets, we saw that our proposed products are compatible. Still, we should propose them in combination, answering a precise training scenario instead of loose from context.

How do you decide which training products to combine?

To create fire training product market combinations, we looked at several steps. The first step is to define the training objectives that our customers want to reach and their target audience. What is the goal of their training? Who will be attending their training? What is their budget? Once we had defined the training objectives and target audience, it was time to create a detailed training outline. This outline should include the topics that will be covered, the activities that will be conducted, and the training products that should be used.

We put together four product market combinations from the most standard (fire extinguisher training) to the more complex and sophisticated (complete fire training program). Each package answers a particular set of training requirements and provides the trainer with the opportunity to create the corresponding scenario. We privileged an escalating approach. As every healthcare facility can have its own unique guidelines, the trainer needs to be able to adapt as much as possible. So nothing is final; those are only suggestions based on facts and sales data.

With digital and evacuations fire simulators, smoke generators, and rescue manikins training products, we propose a solution for healthcare teams to perform versatile, realistic evacuation exercises and procedures within any space or room directly on the spot. No need to move rooms or locations. The practical training will have the most minor impact on the personal schedule.

What are the biggest challenges you see around training staff?

“Train them right here – right now, during their shift.” This is the motto we kept in mind when putting together our product-market combinations. One of the biggest obstacles our customers are facing and that we needed to help them with was to propose training scenarios within their own environment and a cost-efficient and time-saving solution. The goal is to train the people faster and often enough that fire safety becomes a reflex. The course can be planned efficiently: the employees are trained in their working environment while care can continue.

Training within your own work environment is crucial. This is even more true within the healthcare industry. So within our product combination, we propose our digital fire training extinguisher system, the BullsEye™. With it, it is possible to train in practice real-life situations based on the specific circumstances and tasks that apply in a hospital. It combines digital flames, sound, and smoke to create various fire scenarios.

With the extension of the R.A.C.E station, laser extinguishers, misty blind mask, rescue and fire manikins, our customers can combine all the products suggested and make the training complete and very challenging. The training products meet all the technical requirements in hospitals, so they can train safely in places that are not usually possible. Even in an operating room or a laboratory, the quality of our LION Training Products ensures that it is safe to use in the most sensitive conditions.

What is the best way to ensure fire safety training is effective?

We also concluded while conducting our market research that product combination suggestions make it easier for the trainer to set a training environment that teaches the facility’s safety standards to prevent fires and to learn how to best respond to this type of emergency. Immersing the trainees within a good training scenario starts with choosing the right product combinations.

Do you evacuate, or do you apply a stay-put policy? Quick and effective decisions and actions must be taken when a fire starts. Is it clear where the fire extinguisher is located in your department? Do you know the escape plan, and do you know where the closest emergency exit is? Do your staff know how to react in case of fire?

This new approach lets us see more opportunities than ever. Product combinations can be endless; with a portfolio of 80 products and most of those products able to communicate with each other, LION sees a bright future for those tailored training product scenario suggestions.

The key is understanding the sector, the customer and what they want to achieve. Only then can we put together the proper product-market combination.

This article was originally published in the January edition of IFSJ. To read your FREE digital copy, click here.