Thames Valley Battery Powered Hydraulic Rescue Equipment - Awarded

This was a further competition utilising YPO framework 515, Lot 3. This has now been awarded.

Buckinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service (BFRS), along with Royal Berkshire Fire & Rescue Service (RBFRS) and Oxfordshire Fire & Rescue Service (OFRS) are currently looking into new ways of working in order for the Service to deliver the most efficient and cost effective operational capability to the people who live, work and travel through Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes. With this in mind the Service wishes to change the way it undertakes rescues and other operational tasks using hydraulic equipment by providing a more flexible solution. The solution should be to maximise the capability of the hydraulic equipment, whilst considering the potential issue of manual handling and the stowage on an ever changing fleet. The expectation is that the standard equipment will deal with most situations, taking into account the restrictions above, but acknowledging that some incidents will require greater forces leading to a need to have heavy duty equipment. The drawback will be the compromise in manual handling and stowage.

This has resulted in a new tender for the provision up to 75 new sets of hydraulic equipment over the next 5 years. The Service wishes to take on new technologies to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of of the way it works with hydraulic rescue equipment. The major change and the desired way forward for the Service is to move its hydraulic equipment to battery operation so that each tool can be separately and remotely operated using battery power. However, as with all new technologies the Service wishes to make sure that both the tools and the batteries are a proven technology with sufficient proven support and back up from the supplier. The Service is considering changes to its fleet and the introduction of battery powered hydraulic equipment assists with reducing the size and weight of the appliances whilst at the same time improving operational capability allowing increased flexibility in the use of the respective tools.