In an effort to train students how to best respond to emergency situations, Illinois State University's Safety program held an incident scenario on campus.
The scenario involved a fork-truck accident in a campus warehouse, and involved police, fire and rescue officials, in addition to ISU Theater students playing the roles of those involved in the mishap. Nora Fredstrom, an ISU senior from Normal double-majoring in Safety and Chemistry, was one of the students responding to the incident, without any prior knowledge to what she would be encountering. Her instructor is Paul Ronczowski, a 20 year veteran with ISU's Department of Health Sciences.
"I play a safety officer who was called to the scene," said Fredstrom. "It was my job to investigate the incident and solve the problem."
In the scenario, a fork truck collided with a worker in the warehouse, injuring her and spilling hazardous chemicals at the scene. Fredstrom said she was surprised by the number of people involved in the scenario, and by how realistic it was.
"It was more chaotic than I expected. When we came to the scene we had a plan to quarantine the scene, take pictures and begin interviewing witnesses," she said.
Ronczowski said it's important to have a plan, but the reality is you never know what you're going to encounter.
"But you have to be prepared with a tool kit--tape measures, things to take samples with, and know what kind of questions to ask," he said.
The scenario was carried out several different times for different class groups over a two-day period.
