FIREFIGHTER SAFETY

Common Thread Safety for emergency personnel is woven throughout the fire department accreditation self-assessment process. By Cliff Jones

M anagement of the over­all safety effort for any organization starts with an assessment of where

safety stands in everything that the organiza­tion does. One excellent way to assess your department's safety profile is through the Center for Public Safety Excellence/Commis­sion on Fire Accreditation International self­assessment process.

Today's fire service increasingly emphasizes

38 FIRE CHIEF I MARCH 2007

firefighter safety, and rightfully so. Discussion often centers around safety programs, pro­cedures and equipment, and their impact on the issue of safety. Knowing where we're actu­ally at in our efforts to provide a safe working environment for our people is a critical first step in making the fire service a safer profes­sion. A department that chooses to commit to the rigors of self-assessment takes a signifi­cant step forward in the process of continuous improvement with respect to safety.

There are a number of excellent reasorn why an in-depth evaluation of fire and emer­gency service agencies is critical today, such ai coping with change and providing periodi< organizational evaluations to ensure safe oper­ations in the work environment, effectivenes: via outcomes, and efficiency or costs.

Questions of safety One of the common threads in the CFAr's self assessment process since its inception in 199; has been the safety of fire service personnel There are 10 categories within the accredita tion model, and virtually all 10 have a clea and compelling impact on the safety of peopl, in any fire service organization.

In the recently released seventh edition o the CFAI Fire & Emergency Service Self-Assess

ment Manual, the "Research and Informa tion ·collection Guide" identifies the activitiei data and exhibits within various categories t, prepare agencies to answer questions in th self-assessment process. This section of th manual also serves as a quick reference pain for agency personnel to give them a genen idea of how their organization might fare iJ an actual evaluation of a specific category.

Examples of questions directly relate, to personnel safety include: Has the agenc adopted the NFPA 1500, Fire Departmen Occupational Safety and Health, or othe related standards? Is there a risk manage ment program in place? Is there a method fc reviewing workplace accidents and injuries? J there a functional health and safety commit tee? Can the agency's management informa tion system provide data on the total numb, of firefighter injuries over the last five year the number of injuries by location or activit

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FIREFIGHTER SAFETY

the number of particular types of bodily inju­ries, and the most frequent injury scenarios? Are employees inoculated for communicable diseases as defined by the medical authority? These are just a few of the questions that set the stage for the much more detailed process of working through criteria and performance indicators that make up the 10 categories of the self-assessment process.

In addition to the "Research and Infor­mation Collection quide;' there are many opportunities to enhance and evaluate a department's safety practices through self­assessment, including the "Categories and Cri­teria" section, which is the heart and soul of the self-assessment process. An appendix in the final section of the manual, "Emergency

Vehicle Safety - Best Practice Self Assess­ment;' even provides a voluntary tool that could enhance an agency's self-assessment of its vehicle and fleet programs.

An agency responding to the requirements of the self-assessment process would formu­late a description, appraisal and plan for each of the more than 240 performance indicators in the document. The description catalogs the agency's current program, the appraisal describes the agency's assessment of th_e effectiveness of its effort toward that perfor­mance indicator, and the plan details what the agency intends to do in the future in terms of enhancement and continuous improvement.

Defining criteria Examples of the specific emphasis on safety throughout the Self-Assessment Manual start in Category II, Assessment and Planning. Some of the criteria deal with fire risk assess­ment and response strategies and are intended to ensure that each significant fire risk is cat­egorized and listed to permit future analysis and that the agency has assessed the nature and magnitude of the hazards within its juris­diction and developed appropriate response coverage strategies. This process also addresses non-fire risks to ensure that the agency has assessed the nature and magnitude of other hazards and risks within its jurisdiction and identified the appropriate strategies, operation methods and resource allocation required to mitigate potential emergencies.

Category V, Programs, identifies the major programs of any department, including fire

suppression, fire prevention and life-safety education, public education, fire investiga­tion, technical rescue, hazardous materials, emergency medical services, domestic pre­paredness planning and response, aviation rescue and firefighting services, marine and shipboard rescue and firefighting services, and other programs as appropriate.

Safety is addressed throughout the evalua­tion of these pr6grams in a number of ways. In the fire suppression program, for example, staffing, supplies and equipment, current stan­dard operating policy and procedures manual, and the use of a standardized incident com­mand/management system are assessed.

The evaluation of the fire prevention/life­safety program provides an opportunity to reduce the incidence of fire in a given service area and to improve the working environment for firefighters in those fires that do occur. These goals can be accomplished by improv­ing access, solving storage and housekeeping problems, eliminating other hazards such as improper storage of hazardous materials, and ensuring the operation of automatic fire sprinkler and smoke alarm systems.

Both the technical rescue and hazmat pro­grams are evaluated with regard to staffing, apparatus, equipment and supplies, and the use of standard operating procedures to meet the expected level of response.

Performance indicators within all of the above programs would assess staffing, equip­ment, supplies and materials, standard operat­ing procedures, and periodic appraisal of each program, all in an effort to have the maxin1um positive impact on firefighter safety.

Category V I, Physical Resources, deals with department facilities, apparatus and vehicles, apparatus maintenance, tools and small equipment, and safety equipment. Per­formance indicators assess compliance with federal, state and local regulations; appro­priateness of fire apparatus; the replacement schedule for apparatus and other tools and equipment; and the apparatus maintenance program and its attention to the safety, health and security aspects of equipment operation and maintenance.

Safety equipment is assessed in terms of its distribution to appropriate personnel, its sufficiency for the functions performed, its replacement being smeduled and purchased;

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and its maintenance being conducted by qual­ified personnel who keep appropriate records.

Category VII, Human Resources, has cri­teria for risk managem_ent and personnel safety, in which eight performance indica­tors further address the core of a depart­mental safety program. These indicators include having a specific person responsible for the risk management program, a system in place for identifying and evaluating work­place hazards, methods and procedures for correcting unsafe and unhealthy conditions, a training program that addresses occupa­tional health and safety, and the use of near­miss reporting to elevate situational aware­ness and share lessons learned.

There is also a performance indicator to ensure that a health/fitness program is in place and that a management informa­tion system is used to investigate and docu­ment accidents, Jost-time injuries and legal actions. Following the assessment model and completing a description, appraisal and plan should significantly affect the analy-

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sis of any department's overall safety effort. Category VIII, Training and Competency,

assesses the agel)cy's ability to support all of the programs identified in Category V. Train­ing is a huge piece of the firefighter safety puzzle, and addressing it in a comprehensive way through self-assessment and the goals­and-objectives model in the Self-Assessment

Manual can go along way toward making the job of emergency service delivery safer.

Category IX, Essential Resources, deals with water supply, communications systems and administrative support services. All three can have a bearing on firefighter safety. Specifi­cally, the communications center is evaluated through performance indicators dealing 'Nith adequate equipment, staffing, standard oper­ating procedures, and supervision and man­agement of the communications center.

Category X, External Systems Relation­ships, deals with agencies that act together as an integrated system. This can include mutual aid and automatic-aid agreements, which can be factors in firefighter safety.

Each of the 10 major categories in the Fire

& Emergency Service Self-Assessment Manual

is important to today's modem fire agency.All ultimately address the issue of safety of fire­fighters in some fashion. Every agency should consider and then move forward with a goal of accreditation with the CFAI. It's an evalua­tion process that will pay dividends and is a comprehensive way to ensure a bright future for your organization.

For more information on the CPSE and CFAI, visit the CPSE Web site at www.public

safetyexcellence.org. [Fe]

Cliff Jones is chief of the Tempe (Ariz.) Fire Department,

where he has been a member for more than 35 years.

Selected by FIRE CHIEF as the 1997 Career Fire Chief of the

Year, Jones has attended the Harvard University Program for

Senior Executives in State and Local Government and serves

as an instructor in the Arizona State University Fire Service

Management Program in the areas of leadership, program

management and fire service administration. He currently

serves on the Center for Public Safety Excellence's board

of directors and has an associate's degree in fire science, a

bachelor's degree in political science and a master's degree

in public administration.

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