A tunnel is one of the most complex building in construction and maintenance. Generally, they are used to ease transit and reduce travel times. The available safety concepts are shared according to national frameworks between firefighters, technical relief organizations and armed. They is no common concept in firefighting in tunnels between these organisations and between the European members states. Professional exchange should be mandatory but it is spare and unstructured. SAFEINTUNNELS will close a knowledge and action gap for firefighters and victims by: • Firstly, firefighting in tunnels are highly customized strategies reflecting local and/or regional conditions (place, type and age of tunnel, rescue scheme applied etc.) on the one hand, but on the other hand, it has common nominators that can and should be shared. EU-Platforms for this purpose are neither available nor established – difficult to believe. • Secondly, for firefighting in tunnels the technical devices are often derivations of other complex devices in firefighting; their range of applications are extremely broad and will increase even further with the Trans-European transport network and the growing urbanization across Europe– e.g. the reciprocal dependence of tunnels and bridges orchestrating the different types of traffic through the Alps. • Thirdly, devices for firefighting in tunnels are designed to rescue the affected people and safeguard firefighters in this special state of emergencies, under substantial time constraints and in situations with unknown or unforeseen variables. Therefore, the firefighters usually use the most expensive devices in the fleet of vehicles and rescue trains for firefighting (most of which are funded by taxpayers). The scheme will be further developed to allow vocational training and education of Vet teachers and comply with the ECVET-standard. It shall be applicable and adaptable to all tunnels in use independent of the year of construction.
SAFEINTUNNELS wanted to harmonize and digitalize the VET for firefighting in tunnels in Europe. Why? Firstly, tunnels are highly customized construction, reflecting local or regional conditions and their existence will increase even further with the growing urbanization across Europe. Therefore, they are usually the most expensive part of any highspeed connection (street or railway) and mostly funded by the taxpayer. The EU is building a trans-European transport network. SAFEINTUNELS wanted to shed light on the fact that tunnel safety is mostly thought until construction ends but not further. Therefore, SAFEINTUNNELS started with a policy recommendation. It reflected existing recommendations and brought attention to policymakers on one of the most complex strategic themes in firefighting: tunnel rescue. SAFEINTUNNELS offered further the first VET guideline with augemented reality based on ECVET for firefighting in tunnel safety in the EU. This VET-concept is orientated along the area of operation (squads, incident commander, or instructor). It is designed to protect the affected people and firefighters at same time and deals with a broad range of subjects such as substantial time constraints, situations with unforeseen variables.
Road and railway tunnels are keys to the development of the European transport network. Although the number of accidents in tunnels is low compared to the open roadway, the potential damage caused by a single accident is many times higher in tunnels – in terms of the number of victims, the mass psychological impact on road users and in terms of material damage and the impact on the infrastructure. The behavior of people and firefighters, in addition to the technical safety systems; therefore, has a decisive influence on the safety level. Having this mind, it surprises that there is no integrated European vocational training concept for "fire and rescue services in tunnel operations". SAFEINTUNNELS attempts to push for harmonization and digitalization in VET of fire and rescue services in Europe. This was made possible by the production of five intellectual outputs which were tested through four LTTA. The project used the EQF and the European Credit System for Vocational Education and Training as a basis for the creation of a harmonized European training canon. It disseminates the content already and is now successfully applied within the Scandinavian-Mediterranean corridor of the trans-European transport network (so called TEN-V).