HART Team

It's been a while since I first wrote about the HART Team and certainly they have become a much more permanent fixture in the room so I thought I'd write about the Superboys again.

The full scale nuclear attack that I said I'd wait for before making any judgements has not taken place (which I guess I'm grateful for all things considered) but they have been able to dust off their capes for a fair few impressive incidents.

Working on the West I have the HART desk right behind me so have got to know some of the Superboys alteregos quite well. I can't give out any real names as that would be against the Code of Conduct of the Superhero but I will call them by their Superhero names to make it more personal.

To the outsider it may seem that all HART do is sit in the room and make sure their sugar levels don't drop below 30 (A low BM is like their kryptonite) CandyMan fulfills the role of protecting these levels and snacks are always a plenty at the desk. Fireman Sam tries to look busy by playing on the computer when really he is communicating through a secret network that only he can access on the CBeebies website. Robotech stands guard, quiet and efficient ready to spring into action when the HART pager goes off. Floosy McFlirty chats up anything that moves and The Panther does pretty much the same thing - well what's the point of being a superhero if you don't get the girl at the end.

And that's how many people view HART - sitting their doing very little. But then in the middle of a night shift, it's how many people would view the Allocators and Radio Ops, The Loggists and The management. It belittles what an important job everyone does if you only base it on what you see on the surface (look at the Titanic - bet that iceberg didn't look like such a problem from the ship!)

HART come into their own when they are able to go a job that uses the skills they have been trained to use. It doesn't necessarily have to be a massive incident for those skills to come into play. Things change very quickly and a lot of this job is about being prepared for the worst. A little old lady who left the gas on and feels a bit light headed may not be a big deal ... until the person who goes to help her turns on the light and the house ignites.

Having the HART Team gives us the chance to be prepared. When a building collapses (as has happened 3 times now in a fairly short amount of time), HART have been able to respond quickly and efficiently in order to save lives as well as co-ordinate the incident to great effect.

It is hard to say fully what they do when they go out (Superheroes should never give away all their secrets - it's what makes them super). And this is where I think HART run into problems. No one really fully understands what they do. No one has explained how it works when they go out to an incident. Nobody has explained what things we should bring to their attention. Is it just the CBRN stuff of old or do we send them to other things as well?

It's all very well giving the technical schpeel (is that even a real word???) but I don't want to know the statistics and jargon that is no bloody use to anyone in a practical sense. I want to know what they do - how we can best utilise them - do they run an incident or are they just a prescence - do they actually provide medical advise - are they hands on or do they stand on the peripheral of the HotZone and look important.

This is the information that would make people understand the importance of what they do, or can do.

And as with every job, it's a lot about the people that do it. Some of the teams make themselves a part of the room. They have a laugh with the Watch and talk to people. They get involved in what's going on and make themselves approachable and available. It makes it easy to wander over (even if you are only trying to steal their sweets) and casually say "have you seen this cad?"

But other teams seem to be above everyone else that works here. They make themselves a separate entity in the room, stand offish and, if I may be so blunt, a little up their own arse. Just becuase you play this role and get to wear the trousers, it doesn't make you more important than anyone else - it makes you more skilled in a certain area. No one in this room is more important than anyone else - they just play a different role and I think some HART members have, to some extent, the wrong attitude.

I have to state at this point, that this is completely my own view and you are always going to have some people you don't get on with but I hope I have made it clear that I am very much Pro HART. I think they are a fantastic addition to the service and they have already been able to prove their worth on a multitude of incidents. I am planning an observation shift with them to try and see exactly what they do and then hopefully will be better informed myself.

There are some kinks I think that need to be ironed out - most of all being communication. Communciation mostly between HART (or the people above HART) and EOC staff on all levels. Until then it makes it hard for us to help save the world and thus the weight of this falls again on the Superheroes shoulders (although they are quite big and burly shoulders sho I'm sure they'll cope)

Oh and they still aren't going for the calender idea!!