Firefighters practise obese rescues with 40st dummies
♦ Firefighters are resorting to using 40st mannequins in training exercises to practise rescuing obese people.
Bariatric dummies are being utilised by crews to replicate the weight of unconscious people in response to Britain’s rising obesity rates.
Produced by Ruth Lee Ltd, a north Wales company, the heaviest models are filled with a stone core and steel ball bearings to make them weigh up to 40st. The move comes as the number of morbidly obese people living in Britain has dramatically increased, with a quarter of British adults classified as obese.
Fire crews were pictured training with the figures for the first time, with the manufacturers claiming recent major rescue operations such as Grenfell Tower have proved a need for larger models.
Sarah Hampson, from Ruth Lee Ltd, said the full-weight dummies were integral for the emergency services as they needed to be able to train for situations that were intense and could escalate quickly.
She said: “Events like Grenfell have highlighted the need to come up with a good evacuation plan. There’s no point in having a plan if you’re not sure you can carry it out.
“For example, a hospital could have an operating theatre on the fifth floor. If there’s a fire, the lifts close and you’ve got somebody who’s morbidly obese, what do you do?”
Ruth Lee also produces lighter dummies that weigh 14st and 28st, and provide similar products for funeral parlours, cruise ships and airlines.
The cost of the 40st dummy is more than £2,000, but they are discounted for the emergency services.
Ms Hampson added: “As a company, we aim to make mannequins which provide teams with a realistic challenge. With the obesity levels rising, many businesses can make use of these as they must learn to safely manoeuvre heavier people.”