Harmonization and Pre-Standardization of Equipment, Training and Tactical Coordinated procedures for First Aid Vehicles deployment on European multi-victim Disasters

Project Information

VALKYRIES

Grant agreement ID: 101020676

DOI

10.3030/101020676

Project closed

EC signature date 27 April 2021

Start date 1 October 2021

End date 30 September 2023

Funded under

• Secure societies - Protecting freedom and security of Europe and its citizens

Total cost

€ 6 895 326,25

EU contribution

€ 5 995 757,50

Coordinated by

INDRA SISTEMAS SA
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - VALKYRIES (Harmonization and Pre-Standardization of Equipment, Training and Tactical Coordinated procedures for First Aid Vehicles deployment on European multi-victim Disasters)

Reporting period: 2022-10-01 to 2023-09-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

VALKYRIES will increase EU overall resilience and effectiveness in cross-border disasters with multiple victims by enhancing transnational and cross-sectorial trust among different players and in their interaction with data-driven technologies. The project’s harmonisation activities will thus improve efficiency and interoperability in the intervention and coordination of first aid responders in European multi-victim disasters, contributing to lay down a transnational pan-European approach to react to disasters, where to place certain mass notification of the disaster scenario to the society and potential operational instructions to follow, meeting points, etc. In addition, the development of a holistic framework to support the standardisation and harmonisation of cross-border first aid response will enable disruptive technological innovations, their early testing while fully protecting individual and collective rights and interests under the relevant ethical-legal framework. The clarity in the legal and ethical framework will offer a fertile ground for quick uptake of VALKYRIES solutions by both industry and society at large. Legal compliance, along with appropriate consideration of relevant ethical and societal aspects, will ensure social acceptance of the solutions produced by the project. Finally, VALKYRIES will enhance the capability of the EU market and R&D initiatives to bring about harmonised mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery improvements in disaster management. Creating EU-wide standards in this sector will ultimately help reduce the EU Security market fragmentation, contributing to an actual internal market for security and fostering the competitiveness of the overall Security European Industry.

The main objective of VALKYRIES is to develop, implement, validate and apply innovative theoretical foundations, methods, prototypes and their demonstration on a reference integration for supporting the ongoing/planned European actions for pre-standardisation and harmonisation technologies, procedures, preparedness and cross-sector/border cooperation for first aid response at disaster management by emergency health services.

To achieve this primary objective, VALKYRIES will focus on:
• Map of growing commercial and R&D
• Sustainable Regulation and ethical compliance
• Sustainable Pre-standardisation and Standardisation
• Sustainable certification and conformity assessment criteria
• Sustainable Harmonisation framework
• Harmonisation of vehicular first aid technologies, procedures and collaboration
• Cross-sectorial collaboration, civilian protection, volunteering and military assistance
• Reference integration and interoperation
• Large EU scale cross-border demonstrations

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The consortium's efforts during this first reporting period have focused on meeting the commitments and deadlines foreseen in the Grant Agreement:
• Establishment of the evaluation methodology and testbeds
• Plenary meetings in October 2022, January 2023, May 2023
• Close-Up meeting in September 2023
• Final review in September 2023
• Use case 1 execution in May in the border between Spain and Portugal
• Use case 3 execution in July in Sandansky, close to the border between Bulgaria and Greece
• Use case 2 execution in July in Stupava close to Bratislava
• Use Case 4 execution in September 2023 in Northern see close in the area close to the maritime border between Norway, Sweden and Denmark

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

ICT results
The technological analysis performed offered a total of 141 gaps and 135 opportunities, of which eight gaps and eight opportunities were related to first aid vehicles and supportive autonomous units.
The implementation of the selected six opportunities at the EU level is essential as they represent current issues that emergency agencies face. Thus, the standardisation of these opportunities would greatly benefit emergency services to make them work better, resulting in improved citizenship as more lives could be saved. In addition, the following solutions or
platforms have been harmonized:
· Sigrun Framework
· Sigrun Implementation
· Global COP.
· iSafety
· TASSICA 3 Triage Card

PROCEDURES RESULTS
VALKYRIES Project proposes the VALKYRIES COLLABORATIVE GLOSSARY, a freely available comprehensive multilingual web-based collaborative terminology database that will serve as a universal reference for emergency and disaster planning, preparedness and response.
The VALKYRIES Project proposes the implementation of an EU STRUCTURED REPOSITORY OF EMERGENCY RESPONSE PLANS (EUR-ERP) in the framework of the European Civil Protection Mechanism, providing command and control (C2) managers in real time with the ERP information necessary to effectively coordinate cross-border emergencies.

TRAINING RESULTS
Based on the analysis of the identified gaps and needs, the following harmonisation opportunities were identified. The creation of a common core curriculum to be used as a basis for the implementation of emergency medicine as a speciality and the paramedic’s training. The experience of the World Health Organisation (WHO) that provides a classification and minimum standards for emergency medical teams can serve as a basis for a European classification. Besides, the EU institutions will have to work to establish a commonly valid European First Aid Certificate to guarantee the minimum knowledge base in first aid responses at the European level. The training to get this kind of certificate should be recognised via the European Qualification Framework and can be conducted by the European Agency for Health and Safety at Work, based on the guidelines of the European Resuscitation Council. One of the important contributions of the VALKYRIES team is the developed, demonstrated and tested Training kit for Joint Multinational Course for first aid responses. The content of the training, the methodology and the teaching materials for a short 3-day training are available for further pre-standardisation actions.

PRE-STANDARISATION AND HARMONISATION RESULTS
· Mapping of MCI related standards and certifiable standards
· Harmonization of the colour codes used in triage
· Harmonization in the evaluation and analysis of the drills and real emergencies.
· Harmonization on minimum required competencies for training for MCI and disasters.
· Standardization of education and training for first aid responses (Creation of a Training kit: curriculum, methodology and training manual)
· Using common procedures and standards for training and civil-military actions
· Standardization of information sharing in emergency response
· Harmonization of operating procedures in emergency response
· Harmonization of emergency response plans
· Standardisation of terms in planning, preparedness and execution of the emergency response
· Pre-standardization minimum data set to care out the emergency
· Harmonization in procedures and information exchange in MCI
· Harmonization of emergency response plans
· Use of wearables to support triage
· Harmonization for Cross border data trace
· Establishing a common federated system for sharing information in emergency response
· Minimum set of competencies and skills for volunteers and integration in the field operational procedures with adequate field exercise program and adequate protection with risk-free activities

KoM in Madrid - October 2021

Plenary Meeting in Pisa - May 2022

Plenary Meeting online - January 2022

Plenary Meeting in Norway - October 2022