Aspley (asker) Mar 20, 2016:

Many thanks ...for all the ideas and comments, and taking the time to help out. I'm now rather spoilt for choice of course, and will make the final decision when I review the text tomorrow. I will do my best to return the favour if I can. Best wishes to all, David

Jonathan MacKerron Mar 20, 2016:

lots of possible options http://www.meinbezirk.at/urfahr-umgebung/lokales/32-neue-feu...

Paul Cohen Mar 20, 2016:

Misnomer I guess what I'm trying to say is that the German 'Lotse' may be a bit of a misnomer because chances are that when the fire and rescue crews arrive they won't let anyone back into the building until the all-clear has been given. So the 'Lotse' won't be guiding or escorting anyone back inside, but merely serving as an official contact to describe the situation.

Paul Cohen Mar 20, 2016:

Grand titles @ Aspley: I used to work at a company that had a 'fire marshal', which sounded like a grand title, but it was really just one of the people in the office who had the extra responsibilities of making sure that exit doors weren't blocked and everyone knew what to do in the event of an emergency. Since that person might also be in charge of ensuring that the building is vacated in an orderly manner, it's possible that he/she might even delegate responsibility to a 'deputy' of sorts who would meet the emergency services on the street when they arrive. As the idea is to have an official contact for the emergency crews, perhaps you can tweak the text to describe what this individual would do in an emergency. The German could have foregone the term 'Lotse' entirely: "ein Ansprechpartner/in wartet bei der Firmeneinfahrt auf die Einsatzkräfte und weist die entprechend ein"... (privides them with salient information, etc.)

Ramey Rieger (X) Mar 20, 2016:

Perhaps emergency services navigator/director

Aspley (asker) Mar 20, 2016:

Exactly Brigitte (and many thanks!), but it is not the safety officer, it is more a "guide" - but I don't want to use "guide" if I can avoid it. This person more or less briefs the emergency services on arrival.

BrigitteHilgner Mar 20, 2016:

a kind of safety officer? I get the impression that the Lotse is just some kind of guide who is able to show the fire brigade the emergency access route.

Aspley (asker) Mar 20, 2016:

"Zusätzlich ist es sehr von Vorteil, wenn bei der Firmenzufahrt ein Lotse für die Einweisung der Einsatzkräfte wartet." is what it says in the source text - and basically what i wrote, too. This is a person who is indeed employed by the respective company (usually front office staff) and tasked with this job in the event of the emergency service being called out.

Ramey Rieger (X) Mar 19, 2016:

Greetings Aspley and welcome to kudoz. It would be more useful to give the sentence and surrounding context in the source language instead of describing it in the target language. This way we know exactly which term would be the best translation.

Armorel Young Mar 19, 2016:

Context? We need more context on this one. Is this someone who (as Paul suggests) who has this duty included in their job description, or is it just any person who is takes on this task in a specific situation?