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1 – 10 of over 1000Morten Sommer and Ove Njå
The purpose of this study is to reveal and analyse dominant learning processes in emergency response work from the fire‐fighters' point of view, and how fire‐fighters develop…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to reveal and analyse dominant learning processes in emergency response work from the fire‐fighters' point of view, and how fire‐fighters develop their competence.
Design/methodology/approach
This study adopted an explorative approach using participant observation. The objective of this open‐minded approach was to discover how, when and where learning took place.
Findings
There are several areas for learning that contribute to fire‐fighters' development of competence: training, exercises, responses to incidents, storytelling, discussions, lectures, courses, introduction of new technology/knowledge and reading of articles/literature. However, learning to act appropriately in emergency situations is mainly a result of the embodiment of skills and knowledge (getting the feel of it, or “getting it in the finger” as the Norwegian idiom puts it), personal experience and interpersonal sharing of stories.
Research limitations/implications
The study concludes that learning amongst fire‐fighters follows a process of legitimate peripheral participation, as well as learning being a personal development for the individual fire‐fighter. A combination of a socio‐cultural approach to learning and an individual cognitive approach is thus needed to fully understand learning processes.
Practical implications
Learning can be improved by actors becoming more reflexive practitioners, where responses are critically evaluated and established knowledge and practice are questioned. Efforts to improve learning amongst fire‐fighters should accordingly include systematic sharing of experiences and development of more challenging exercises which will help to enhance bodily experience of new knowledge.
Originality/value
This study extends current understanding of learning and competence development in emergency work. It presents essential learning activities, in addition to the dominant learning mechanism in personal development. The study clarifies the potential for learning through planned learning processes as opposed to the contribution from informal, ad hoc, socio‐cultural means of learning.
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Mohd Dahlan A. Malek, Kathryn Mearns and Rhona Flin
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship among sources of stress, coping strategy, job satisfaction and psychological well‐being and to examine the roles of coping…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship among sources of stress, coping strategy, job satisfaction and psychological well‐being and to examine the roles of coping behaviour as the moderator variable.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses a questionnaire survey and area sampling design, with responses of 617 Malaysian fire fighters and 436 UK fire fighters. The questionnaire comprises: the Sources of Occupational Stress in Fire Fighters & Paramedics scale, the Coping Response of Rescue Workers and the Job Satisfaction Scale. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis is used to examine the moderating effect of coping behaviour on job satisfaction and psychological well‐being.
Findings
It is found that the sources of occupational stress have significant negative correlations with job satisfaction and psychological well‐being. The results of the regression analysis indicates that overall coping behaviour has a significant influence on overall job satisfaction for UK fire fighters but not for Malaysian fire fighters. However, overall coping behaviour has a significant effect as a moderating variable between sources of stress and psychological health for Malaysian fire fighters.
Practical implications
The results suggest that training that focuses on psychological aspects (stress management, coping strategies, etc.), and the use of counsellors should be highlighted. It is suggested that the Malaysian Fire Brigade should establish a Counselling Unit, to deal with psychological problems faced by the fire fighters.
Originality/value
This study shows how theories originating in developed countries (USA and Canada) can help explain the psychological health of the fire fighters in a developing country (Malaysia). The analysis of statistical results led to the development of a model to interpret the factors influencing psychological health in Malaysian and UK fire fighters. Beside that, the evidence from the study also highlighted that factors such as culture may influence the ways employees cope up with the situations.
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Annemaree Lloyd and Margaret Somerville
The purpose of this article is to explore the contribution that an information literacy approach to the empirical study of workplace learning can make to how people understand and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this article is to explore the contribution that an information literacy approach to the empirical study of workplace learning can make to how people understand and conceptualise workplace learning.
Design/methodology/approach
Three cohorts of fire‐fighters working in two regional locations in NSW, Australia were interviewed using a semi‐structured interview approach. Constructivist grounded theory methodology was employed to work with the data; post‐structuralism.
Findings
Study findings indicate that an understanding of information literacy and information literacy practices contributes to workplace learning by highlighting the relationship between different modalities of information, and the relationship between workplace learning and professional identity. Information literacy is not solely confined to developing skills related to accessing information in textual or digital modalities, but requires access to social and physical sources of information.
Originality/value
The information literacy approach contributes to a developing understanding of the role of workplace learning by highlighting the process as a catalyst for learning. This process is underpinned by ways of knowing about the types of situated information sources that are valuable for learning about practice and profession.
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Merilyn Childs, Michael Morris and Valerie Ingham
Australian newspapers, like those in other first‐world countries, valorise fire‐fighters through images more typically associated with heroic blue‐collar “battlers”: sweat, ash…
Abstract
Australian newspapers, like those in other first‐world countries, valorise fire‐fighters through images more typically associated with heroic blue‐collar “battlers”: sweat, ash, uniforms and firestorms, punctuated with tales of heroic deeds and personal sacrifice. Yet increasingly, much of the work of fire‐fighters is associated with the grunt of “clean work” – report writing, community engagement, prevention and recovery activities, and so on. This paper considers the changing nature of career fire‐fighters' work in one fire‐fighting organisation in Australia, and the rising importance of “clean” white‐collar work to emergency management.
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Michelle R. Tuckey, Yiqiong Li and Peter Y. Chen
The purpose of this paper is to examine the moderating role of transformational leadership on the relationship between job characteristics of both leaders and followers and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the moderating role of transformational leadership on the relationship between job characteristics of both leaders and followers and workplace bullying within the workgroup. The central hypotheses were that, in a process of resource erosion, leaders’ task demands would be positively associated with workplace bullying in the workgroup, but that transformational leadership would moderate this effect, and the effect of followers’ autonomy on bullying.
Design/methodology/approach
Anonymous surveys were completed by 540 volunteer fire-fighters’ from 68 fire brigades and, separately, by 68 brigade captains.
Findings
The multi-level analyses show that leaders’ task demands positively predicted both bullying outcomes, after controlling for followers’ emotional demands and autonomy. Of most interest, transformational leadership moderated the influence of leaders’ task demands and followers’ autonomy on workplace bullying assessed by two approaches: self-labeling and behavioral experience. Further, a significant three-way interaction demonstrated that transformational leadership is actually associated with higher bullying as followers’ emotional demands increase under conditions wherein followers’ autonomy is constrained, but not when followers’ autonomy is high.
Practical implications
This study offers important practical implications in terms of leadership development in bullying prevention and reduction. For transformational leadership to be effective in reducing bullying at work, the situation must be matched to support this leadership style, or bullying could actually increase.
Originality/value
The study contributes to the research on workplace bullying by advancing the understanding of organizational factors that can influence bullying at work. The study also provides the first quantitative evidence of a relationship between the demands faced by leaders and the bullying experienced by members of the workgroup.
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WHEN the fixed, forward‐firing guns of a fighter aircraft are installed in such a position that the recoil forces have an effective moment about the Centre of Gravity, then the…
Abstract
WHEN the fixed, forward‐firing guns of a fighter aircraft are installed in such a position that the recoil forces have an effective moment about the Centre of Gravity, then the aircraft will develop a pitching motion as a direct result of the discharge of the guns. The projectiles in any given burst will then be dispersed across, instead of concentrated on, the target. A theoretical expression for this dispersion of projectiles is developed, and hypothetical data, corresponding approximately to a modern, single‐engine, single‐seat fighter, is used to derive typical values of the dispersion at two ranges. These values are then considered in conjunction with the two main forms of attack, and it is deduced that the discharge of more than two rounds per gun is valueless since the dispersion of projectiles then exceeds the radius of the target. Other disadvantages attendant on the wing‐installation of guns are also noted and the conclusion is reached that, by mounting the armament in a battery in the nose, lengthy bursts of accurate, concentrated fire at long range are possible. Finally, the use of telescopic sights is envisaged if the potentialities of such a phenomenal increase in the operational efficiency of fighter aircraft are to be fully exploited.
Chandrakantan Subramaniam, Hassan Ali and Faridahwati Mohd Shamsudin
The purpose of this paper is to identify the initial emergency response time of fire fighting teams in Malaysia.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify the initial emergency response time of fire fighting teams in Malaysia.
Design/methodology/approach
In an emergency incident time is of the essence, and the basic philosophy of an emergency response agency is to respond as quickly as possible to minimize the loss of life and property damage. In the current study, emergency response performance refers to team members' speed in responding to emergency situations, which was measured as the time taken for the team members to get to the fire truck from the waiting room in selected fire stations in Malaysia. The data collection period lasted for five months.
Findings
This study found that the overall average initial emergency response time was 84 seconds, while the overall average weighted initial emergency response time was 3.71 seconds per meter. The current study has demonstrated that the average initial emergency response performed by fire fighting teams in Malaysia is apparently better than that reported by previous studies by other emergency responders.
Originality/value
This paper presents empirical evidence of the initial emergency response time of fire fighters in Malaysia, by taking into account the distance traveled by the responders. As such, the performance measure obtained gives a meaningful indicator. The finding of the current study is then compared to emergency response performance by other emergency response agencies in other countries.
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Akram Hassan Mohammed Ali and Weidong Yu
The purpose of this paper is to investigate thermal protection provided by the fire fighting fabric systems with different layer under high-level thermal hazards with a typical…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate thermal protection provided by the fire fighting fabric systems with different layer under high-level thermal hazards with a typical temperature range of 800-1,000°C. The purpose of these fabric systems was to provide actual protection against burn injuries using garments worn by industrial workers, fire fighters and military personnel, etc.
Design/methodology/approach
The fabric system was consist of glass with aluminum foil as an outer layer, non-woven basalt, non-woven glass fabric containing NaCl-MgCl2 and Galactitol phase change materials (PCM) which simulate multilayer fire fighter protective clothing system. Thermal protective performance tests were applied for thermal analysis and used as an attempt to quantify the insulating characteristics of fabrics under conditions of flash over temperature. The surface of fire fighting multilayer protective fabric has been characterized using the UV-Vis-NIR (ultraviolet-visible-near infrared) spectrophotometer
Findings
The clothing shows good thermal insulation and high-temperature drop during flash over environment and avoid second degree burn. The current PCM obvious advantages such as the ability to work in high temperature, high efficiency a long period of practical performance.
Originality/value
Using this design of composite multilayer technology incorporating two stages of PCM may provide people with better protection against the fire exposure and increasing the duration time which was estimated to be more than five minutes to prevent burn injuries.
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J. Carvalho, M. Fernandes, V. Lambert and I. Lapsley
The new public management (NPM) agenda is transforming the public sector in many countries. However, there have been criticisms of NPM, particularly over its emphasis on…
Abstract
Purpose
The new public management (NPM) agenda is transforming the public sector in many countries. However, there have been criticisms of NPM, particularly over its emphasis on quantification, results orientation and the measurement of performance to the possible detriment of service delivery. The purpose of this paper is to examine an important public service – the fire service – in differing contexts: the “mature” NPM setting of the UK, and a “late adopter” of NPM – Portugal.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is conducted by a combined methods approach. The principal focus of this study is on publicly available databases of performance indicators. The data are supported by additional material from operational officers in fire services, and from oversight bodies, obtained by interviews and by survey in Portugal.
Findings
This comparative study reaffirms the potential for NPM solutions to public service management. In particular, there is a case for carefully targeted key performance indicators in Portuguese fire services.
Originality/value
This paper makes an original contribution to ideas of NPM in action by focussing on performance measurement in different contexts. The comparative aspect of this paper is crucial as a means of assessing the portability of NPM ideas in different national settings.
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Kylie Bartolo and Brett Furlonger
Recently important changes have been made to fire service management practices in Australia; however, these changes have typically not been based on empirical research or followed…
Abstract
Recently important changes have been made to fire service management practices in Australia; however, these changes have typically not been based on empirical research or followed up by systematic evaluation. While job satisfaction and leadership behaviour have been extensively investigated in other fields, studies of these variables in the fire service, particularly in Australia, are almost absent. This article examines links between job satisfaction and leadership behaviour in aviation fire fighters. Fifty‐six fire fighters responded to the Job Descriptive Index and the Leadership Behaviour Questionnaire XII. As hypothesised, employee job satisfaction correlated with supervisor leadership behaviour, with the exception of consideration leadership and co‐worker satisfaction. A new explanation, concerning level of team interaction, is proposed for the findings. Implications for the fire service and areas for further research are suggested.
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