| Welcome to the Spring 2024 edition of the quarterly Bariquins‘ newsletter |
In this newsletter: Disaster Victim Identification Training Barry & Benny’s Round-Up Please scroll down for all the details. |
| Disaster Victim Identification Training |
Very often, we focus upon the work of rescuing or moving and handling casualties or patients.
In this article, we highlight the people responsible for dealing with the aftermath of a mass fatality casualty event. The cause of that event may be natural, such as an earthquake; an accident, like a train or a plane crash or due to an act of terrorism.
Very recently, Bariquins hosted a Train-The-Trainer Course with UK Disaster Victim Identification, a specialist team of police officers and staff from around the UK. Their purpose, when fulfilling their role as a DVI operative is to retrieve and identify the bodies of the victims of a mass casualty event. This is a duty where the Officers are acting on behalf of the Coroner, for the purposes of the subsequent inquest(s).
Following on from a conversation about body recovery, it became apparent that the officers, due to their specialist DVI training, were becoming more and more involved in the recovery of ‘Complicated Deaths’ in their own Police force areas. Many of these complicated deaths were classified as bariatric. There was also an appreciation that some of the casualties in a mass fatality are also classed as bariatric, which is why UK DVI approached Bariquins for their expertise.
With a background of over 30 years with the fire service, the Bariquins’ lead trainer, Neal Pickersgill MBE, always enjoys imparting his knowledge and experience to class participants. Backed up by Bariquins’ Managing Director, Chris Jarratt with 30 years of police service, the relationship between trainers and the DVI operatives was instinctive.
For the course, naturally, it started with the basics by introducing knowledge concerning people living with obesity and manual handling awareness, plus tips on the construction of the Bariquin. This was followed by recovery of the Bariquin from various set-ups, which increased in complexity as the DVI operatives became more confident in their construction techniques and as different equipment was introduced into their training scenarios.
By the end of the course, the DVI operatives are ready and willing to design their own scenarios, constructing the Bariquin in situ. They then have their colleagues perform the recovery using the techniques that they have developed during the course and using equipment that they have access to.
And, as the Bariquin has a modular construction, the occasional crafty scenario designed around an amputee Bariquin, provided an added level of complexity for the recovery team.
And each day, after training, the Bariquin was quickly disassembled, packed in the storage boxes and placed neatly away, ready for the next training session to begin.
If you would like more information on our Bariquins, equipment that we provide or our training courses, please contact us on
Barry & Benny’s Round-Up
In this regular section, we look at news and other pieces of interest that have occurred since the last newsletter.
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Headlines, reports and articles from around the world that have caught our attention recently are given below:
Obesity continues to become more common no matter what part of the world you are from:
- The World Obesity Federation predicts that half of the world is on track to be overweight or obese by 2035. Details here.
- Türkiye is the country with the highest obesity prevalence in Europe with one in every three adults obese. More here.
- World Obesity Day: UAE annual bill for condition expected to hit $12bn. See here.
- US businesses and employees face staggering $425.5 billion in economic costs from obesity and overweight in 2023, as reported here.
- In India, they report 10-15% rise in bariatric surgeries in under-25 patients. Read more here.
- A report estimates that a billion people are obese, listing the top 10 countries for the condition here.
- Obesity is becoming a serious problem in Korea, showing a sharp rise in obesity rates across all age groups there. Read more here.
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From the UK:
- UK’s ever-worsening obesity crisis as shock analysis claims it is costing £100billion a year. More here.
- In England, fire crews handled more than 40 calls per week last year from people living with obesity who were in difficulties in their homes. As reported here.
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Until the next newsletter,
Stay Safe and Healthy.
