Hazardous Materials First Responder

Six years on from the release of the UKFRS National Operational Guidance the importance of trained experienced officers is still paramount to dealing with specialist incidents. New energy technologies, net zero plans and alternatively fuelled vehicles mean that the rate of hazardous materials incidents is ever increasing and growing in complication.

Fire and rescue services are responsible, under legislation and regulations, for developing policies and procedures, and to provide information, instruction, training and supervision to their personnel about foreseeable hazards and the control measures used to mitigate the risks arising from those hazards. The hazardous material first responder course is a critical step in incident command development and must be delivered by an accredited experienced provider across a 5-day programme to give the full qualification compliance with the National Operational Guidance, Foundation for Hazardous Materials.  

In recognition of the latest developments in the world of hazardous response incident management and in line with national guidance, the National Chemical Emergency Centre have updated our HMFR course for 2024 and continues to deliver it in partnership with the Fire Service College to give learners a truly world class learning experience at FSC facilities delivered by NCEC’s renowned hazardous materials and chemical experts. 

The aim of this course is to provide first responders, or those with an incident command responsibility, with the necessary knowledge and practical experience to be able to competently deal with an incident involving hazardous materials. The course is built to give them the understanding and the confidence to either bring a hazmat incident to a successful conclusion or manage incident ground activities until the arrival of a tactical advisor or specialist officer. The learners will be prepared for whichever route they want to take.

Due to the increased number of hazardous materials incidents attended by UK FRS over recent years, such as acid attacks, home-made explosives, illicit drugs labs, domestic carbon-monoxide and individual chemical exposures to name but a few, we have a responsibility to ensure that the Incident Commanders mobilised to such incidents are prepared to deal with what they face.

This course is one of the 'Open Programme' courses run in collaboration with the Fire Service College. The course content can be provided as privately run courses where organisations have a large number of trainees.