FORT LIBERTY, NC, NORTH CAROLINA, UNITED STATES  –   FORT LIBERTY, NC - Soldiers and civilians at Womack Army Medical Center took turns putting out ‘digital fires’ thanks to an apparatus that scores users based on the efficiency of their firefighting techniques as it relates to the use of fire extinguishers.

While using a Digital Fire Extinguisher Trainer, lasers simulate the discharge of actual extinguishers for clean and safe training sessions. This encourages users to get realistic hands-on training with an extinguisher to encourage them to be ready should a real fire ever occurs in the workplace.

The interactive event was part of the Womack Safety Council’s effort to brief leaders and Additional Duty Safety Officers on accident trends and provide training designed to prevent workplace injuries. “The training provided during the Safety Council meetings are based on recent accident trends and hazards we discover during Life Safety inspections”, said Joe Dooley, Womack’s Chief of Safety and Occupational Health.

Dooley, who also warns of these potential risks at new employees’ orientation meetings every other week, said you can never bring this to employees’ attention too often. “The training we provide has been well received by the Additional Duty Safety Officers”, he added. Fire safety is of particular importance as Womack is open 24/7, has more than 4,000 employees and serves more than 200,000 patients.

Womack will also be partially responsible for taking the message to the masses as the Department of Defense earlier this month sent a video and training crew to Womack to film several segments of a new online fire inspector class for the DoD’s firefighter certification course.

To find out more about the type of fire safety efforts Womack maintains, visit https://www.osha.gov/etools/hospitals/hospital-wide-hazards/fire-hazards