The following link is worth your time and is the subject of this blog.
http://www.iafc.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=306
Now; try to work through my sarcasm as you read this.
There is this novel idea being floated that WE, as firefighters, need to take some personal responsibility for our OWN safety. What a surprise!
What I am about to say has a target. Some of you might be offended by my remarks, because you have been one who has always been a champion for safety. So, enjoy this blog for its entertainment value then.
But for the rest of you; when did everything that happens to you become someone else’s fault?
When did it become someone else’s responsibility to watch over you?
When did you resolve that you weren’t accountable for your actions any longer?
Why are you a master at playing the “blame game”?
Why do you believe that the easy way out is the only way out?
And last; why aren’t you willing to grow up, step up, suck it up and get up off of your “C” sector and make the right decisions for YOU, instead of leaving your safety in the hands of someone uncaring, unqualified or indifferent to the whole idea that firefighting, despite inherent risks, can be done more safely?
I am not talking about sanitizing it to paralyzing proportions. I am talking about educating yourselves and integrating that seamlessly into your firefighting tasks. It really doesn’t take any longer to do a job safely as it does to take needless risks.
If you have learned about building construction and fire behavior, you are well ahead of the safety curve when dealing with a structural fire. Risk vs. benefit will be at the front of your thought process. You will be assisting your officers with making good decisions when deciding interior vs. exterior tactics and with that, you will be creating a culture that will insure to everyone that safety is the first priority. It isn’t safe if YOU say it isn’t safe. It will not be up for discussion or debate.
Getting to the scene isn’t half the battle; it is much more important than that. Not only should your personal safety be of the utmost importance, but also the safety of the other motorists; your customers. Operating the vehicle with due caution is the only option that you have if you are the apparatus driver. You cannot sit in the drivers’ seat and assume or predict what the other motorists are going to do. Therefore, you cannot drive with disregard for others who share the road and you have to remember the valuable “resources” that you are hauling to a scene.
If you are a passenger in said vehicle, then you’d better be belted in. There isn’t an excuse that is reasonable or acceptable for NOT wearing your seat belt. Aren’t we all getting tired and frustrated by reading “ejected from the vehicle”? How many more have to die before it sinks in that not wearing your seatbelt is a dangerous and unnecessary risk? Why should we have to rely on someone else to tell you to wear it? Why won’t you wear it, unless someone tells you to?
We talk about how foolish and stupid it was to ride the tailboard in days gone by, but yet; we don’t wear seatbelts, SCBAs or safety harnesses when we should. We have all kinds of reasons and lip service for not doing it, even though we know that it will save lives.
Chief BillyG was recently quoted in an article on the IAFC safety initiatives:
Deputy Chief Billy Goldfeder, chair of the IAFC’s Safety, Health and Survival (SHS) Section said, “While some firefighter injury and death cannot be avoided, so much of it can be, and it so often falls to each of us taking responsibility for ourselves and each other. A very critical factor in success is the role of fire officers and chiefs developing policy, providing training and enforcing the policy based on training to each and every member. The IAFC SHS Section proactively leads and supports any department, anywhere, in accomplishing these goals.”
I love Billy to death for his immeasurable contributions to the fire service, but when making that statement, he is thinking like a firefighter and not like a safety guy, because a safety guy will NOT accept less that ZERO for injuries or fatalities. You see; in my world of safety, accidents aren’t accidental; they are caused. When looking at the causes, you have to look at if they are preventable and if so, make the necessary changes to avoid repeating them.
I am also a realist. I have been a safety professional and a risk manager for 16 years. I was active in the fire service for 22 years. I know that we cannot be engaged in the types of activities that are required of us and NOT take a calculated risk which could end in some unintended results; injury being one of them. But then; that is why your basic risk vs. benefit is done in the first place. THAT will at least force you to consider the bad stuff before declaring your EAP.
So; though I am not a “Safety Sally”, I am an advocate for reducing unnecessary risks. We have to prevent the injuries that are preventable. Don’t wait for someone else to do that for you. Take ownership. Take responsibility. Take the time to do it as safely as possible under the circumstances or in spite of them.
Don’t find yourself lying in a hospital bed asking yourself, “How did I get to this point?”
TCSS.
Art
The article as submitted is protected by federal copyright under The Adventures of Jake and Vinnie© umbrella. It cannot be re-produced by any means without the expressed permission of Art Goodrich aka ChiefReason.
Also on Chief Reason …
- Cultivating a Civilized Approach to Safety – May 22, 2009
- Ordering From the Risk Menu – February 28, 2009
- Belt It Out: WEAR IT! – July 19, 2010
- A Defective Maintenance Program Defined – March 22, 2009
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