Ruth Lee rescue and training manikins for fire and rescue services, water rescue, healthcare handling, USAR and custody training — from pool rescue and man-overboard manikins to bariatric and patient handling models. Realistic weight and build are what make training transfer to real incidents. We advise on matching manikin weight and type to the scenarios you train, and instructor courses are available through Phoenix STS.
Training Manikins Ireland
Safety Equipment Ireland supplies Ruth Lee training manikins to fire and rescue services, water rescue and lifeguard teams, healthcare and ambulance trainers, defence units and industrial safety teams across Ireland. The catalogue is quotation based: identify the manikins that match your training scenarios, send an enquiry, and the sales team confirms suitability, availability and delivery before anything is ordered.
safetyequipment.ie is owned and operated by Phoenix STS, the fire safety and health and safety consultancy and training provider. Ruth Lee manikins are manufactured by Ruth Lee Ltd, and Phoenix STS is the authorised sole distributor for the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, providing sales support, product guidance and after-sales service. To talk through a requirement, call 043 3349611 or email [email protected].
How to choose a training manikin
Match the manikin to the rescue you are training for. Fire crews practising breathing apparatus snatch rescues need heat and abrasion resistance; water rescue teams need manikins that behave realistically in a pool or open water; healthcare and ambulance teams need realistic patient handling weights; evacuation trainers need a casualty that can be moved through corridors and stairwells drill after drill.
Weight matters as much as scenario. Training with an unrealistically light casualty builds false confidence, so the range runs from toddler and child manikins up to adult and bariatric models, letting teams rehearse with the casualty profiles they will actually face.
Durability and environment come next: indoor handling, hot fire cells, open water, working at height and confined spaces each have dedicated models. The training manikin buying guide for Ireland works through these decisions in more detail.
Who must provide this training?
The Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 requires employers to give staff the instruction and training they need to do their work safely, including emergency duties. In plain terms, if your people are expected to move, rescue or evacuate a person, they must be trained for it, and a manikin lets them practise without putting a colleague or patient at risk.
Under the Fire Services Acts 1981 and 2003, the person in control of a premises has a general duty to take reasonable measures to guard against fire and to ensure occupants can be evacuated safely. Realistic drills are the accepted way to show that evacuation arrangements actually work, and a manikin makes those drills repeatable.
In residential healthcare, Regulation 28 of S.I. No. 415 of 2013, monitored by HIQA, requires staff of designated centres to receive suitable training in fire safety, including evacuation procedures. In practice that means nursing home and disability service teams rehearsing evacuation with a realistic casualty rather than asking a resident or a colleague to volunteer.
Manikins from this category are supplied to fire and rescue services, water rescue teams, hospitals, nursing homes, ambulance services and defence and Civil Defence units.
Brands stocked
Every manikin in this category is manufactured by Ruth Lee Ltd, the specialist rescue training manikin maker, and supplied in Ireland exclusively through Phoenix STS as authorised sole distributor for the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The featured range is summarised on the Ruth Lee training manikins page.
Popular training manikins
Fire House Manikin - built for breathing apparatus snatch rescue and hot fire cell training.
Patient Handling Manikin - developed to improve lifting and handling training in healthcare.
Emergency Evacuation Manikin - a realistic casualty for evacuation drills in workplaces and care settings.
Pool Rescue Manikin - for lifeguard and pool rescue training.
Bariatric (Obese) Training Manikin - for bariatric moving and handling practice.
The wider category covers more than thirty models, including water rescue, working at height, confined space, mass casualty and canine training manikins.
Instructor training
Phoenix STS also trains the trainers. The certified healthcare evacuation equipment instructor course prepares staff to deliver evacuation equipment training within their own organisation, and manikins and instructor training can be quoted together.
Training manikin FAQs
How do I choose the right training manikin? Start with the scenario, the environment and the handling method, then the casualty weight you need to simulate. Share those details in your enquiry and the team will recommend specific models.
What sizes and weights are available? The range runs from toddler and child manikins up to adult and bariatric models. Weights vary by model, so tell the team what casualty profile your drills need to reproduce and they will match a manikin to it.
Can training manikins be used in water? Yes. Dedicated water rescue models, including pool, surf and advanced water rescue manikins, are designed for wet environments. State whether training takes place in a pool, open water or from a vessel.
Do nursing homes need evacuation training manikins? Regulation 28 of S.I. No. 415 of 2013 requires staff of designated centres to receive suitable training in fire safety, including evacuation procedures. A manikin lets teams rehearse those drills realistically without involving residents, which is why evacuation and patient handling manikins are common purchases for nursing homes.
Why not use a volunteer instead of a manikin? A live volunteer cannot safely be dragged downstairs, winched, dropped or taken into a hot training cell, and repeated handling risks injuring them. A manikin gives a consistent, realistic casualty weight for every drill.
How does the enquiry process work? No prices are shown online. Send the model names, quantities and delivery location through the contact page, or call 043 3349611, and the sales team responds with a quotation covering suitability, availability and delivery.
Is instructor training available? Yes. Phoenix STS trains staff to deliver evacuation equipment training within their own organisation, and instructor training can be included in the same enquiry as the manikins.
Request a quotation
Safety Equipment Ireland does not display online prices because every requirement is quoted individually. Contact the sales team with the model names, quantities and delivery location, or call 043 3349611 or email [email protected], and you will receive a quotation with suitability and availability confirmed.