Kilkenny Fire and Rescue Service & Waterford/Kilkenny Division of An Garda Síochána
Hazardous Materials Awareness Training

On Thursday 28th February 2008 Kilkenny Fire and Rescue Service together with Waterford/Kilkenny Division of An Garda Síochána, rolled-out their first joint training seminar for Inter-Agency Hazardous Materials Awareness. Subsequent other training courses were run on 13th March 2008, 20th March 2008 and 13th November 2008.

This training course was developed by

• Senior Assistant Chief Fire Officer Killian J Hennessy,
• Senior Assistant Chief Fire Officer Frank Dunne and
• Garda Inspector Patrick J. O'Connor.

The concept for this inter-agency training arose over a number months after some serious hazardous materials in the operation area of Kilkenny county.
Each agency upon reflection after this incident type each agency noted that the following issues could be improved.

• Inter-agency communication,
• Information management and
• Knowledge of each other agencies roles with special regard to this specific type of risk,
• Command and control procedures.

Photographs courtesy of Dave Minogue

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