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Checkmarked: An inventive response for an emergency situation
A Nelson firefighter has developed a novel product that could soon be part of standard procedure for emergency services across North America.
Check-Out Bag, a brightly coloured bag emblazoned with a large checkmark, lets people know that emergency services have already dealt with an accident scene, solving a problem that has long been plaguing police and fire units.
?We would get called back to the same scene by well-meaning members of the public who were unaware that we had already dealt with it,? said inventor Dan Markin, who learned of the issue first hand as a longtime volunteer with the Beasley Fire Department.
Neither flagging tape nor traffic cones had proven effective in communicating that a situation had already been looked after by emergency services. Markin carefully designed the Check-Out Bag to resemble a traffic sign, making it both highly visible and authoritative, while using a symbol that is recognized around the globe.
?Even if you are going by in a vehicle at a brisk pace, you can identify the checkmark and realize that the accident scene has been checked,? he said.
Check-Out Bag made its debut this past October at two dozen emergency services and four RCMP detachments around the West Kootenay, with great success.
?Since the bags have been put into service, we have not had a single callback, and I have not had a report of any callbacks from any of the (fire) halls that are using them,? he said.
Public response to the product has also been favourable as it eliminates confusion when passing by an accident.
?The public in general have told me that they appreciate seeing it out there because it does take the ambiguity out of it,? said Markin. ?When you see the checkmark, you know that it?s been dealt with. If you don?t see it, then you know that it?s a good idea to make the call to get something happening.?
The potential market expansion for Check-Out Bag, to which Markin owns the trademark and copyright, is huge. There is no other such product being sold to emergency services, and its possible uses go beyond roadside accidents.
?As far as the type of emergency, it?s not limited to vehicles because it is designed to be hung over top of mailboxes, signposts, street markings?or pretty much anywhere?to identify areas where emergency services have checked a location,? said Markin.
Disaster evacuations and missing person searches are two crises where Markin particularly sees a benefit to using the Check-Out Bag.
While the product looks deceptively simple, Markin in fact put careful thought into the design. The Check-Out Bag is reversible and, should rescuers be unable to find a post on which to display the checkmark, it can be turned around and filled with snow or some other weighty material to exhibit the checkmark. Because the Check-Out Bag is biodegradable, crews will not have to worry about retrieving the bags; they will simply disintegrate in about six months.
Emergency departments interested in testing out the product can contact Markin through his website: www.checkoutbag.ca.
Link: www.kootenaybiz.com/nelson/checkmarked.html
Added on March 29th, 2008
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