Emergency drill : A notion of a safety to overcome the accident

Published On 26 Nov 2009

Unpredictable is the nature of accident. No one knows when it would happen and it surely causes losses in property or even lives. That’s why the best thing we could do is to gain as much as knowledge and skills on preventing and dealing with the case of accident.

On Wednesday (28/10), such knowledge and skills are demonstrated by dozens of Big Bird drivers and bus chaperones on Emergency Drill at Jakarta International School (JIS) parking lot. As an international-standard’s private school, JIS has top priority to ensure the safety and comfort of its students, especially those who are using the school transportation facility. Facilitated by Blue Bird Group, this annual accident-prevention simulation aims to add more emergency-handling skills to the Big Bird drivers and chaperones as well as raise public awareness about the importance of safety on the road.

Sigit Priawan Djokosoetono, Vice President Central Operation Blue Bird Group, says that Big Bird is routinely trained drivers and chaperones to be responsive in dealing with on–the-road emergency situations. Safety is Number One. Therefore, Emergency Drill is one of the means to hone skills for drivers and chaperones to overcome emergency problems during the trip. And I’d like to thank JIS, Land Transportation Office, Organda DKI, Ambulance 118, Fire-fighters, fellow journalists, and all related parties, because of their participation this simulation can be performed according to the service motto of Big Bird: Safety is Number One,” he explained simply. During the drill, drivers and bus chaperones showed five rescue scenes and a fire fighting act. One of the scenarios, the worst of all, is a bus caught up in chaotic situation.

Two Delta buses are on their way to deliver students home after school dismissal. When they are lining up in an intersection, comes a bunch of crowds look like planning for aggressive fighting. The first bus manages to escape and hide in the nearest office, prior to asking permission and help with the security there. However, the second one is trapped in disarray. On this state of emergency, the bus driver calls the Bus Office to report and asks for a back up bus, while the students and chaperones are doing the ‘head down’, until the coast is cleared. For such case of riot, Big Bird provides a sense of security to the passengers by outfitting its armada with impact resistant shield, especially on the bus windows. To test this, the chaotic mass fiercely hit the bus body and windows with stones and large wooden sticks several times, yet their efforts failed.

Closing the entire series of demonstrations is the fire fighting session, where drivers and chaperones learn and demonstrate how to extinguish fire using a standard fire extinguisher from the bus. Before performing an action, the participants listen seriously to the instructions from South Jakarta Fire-fighter. When the flames set up on the drum, the participant that has held a fire extinguisher must releases the safety lock cylinders and sprays the flames until it’s gone. Apparently, fire-extinguishing is not easy without theory and proper techniques, such as how to practically remove the tube lock with ease, and not to against the wind when spraying the fire.

Emergency Drill was also attended by dr. Niniek Purnomo (Vice President Regulatory Affairs Blue Bird Group), H. Ridwan Pohan (General Manager Pool Ciputat) and staffs, and Istiko Zakaria (Trans Consult Manager).

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