Your Safety —Is It Legislated?
Volunteers Corner
Toxic chemical spills requiring the evacuation of a building or possibly the shut down of service on a busy commuter railroad during the height of the rush hour are really no longer earthshaking, interest-grabbing readership items in a daily newspaper. Unfortunately, they have become rather commonplace. A fire or an explosion, especially when a hazardous substance is thrown about, may command a bit more notice. But after the flames die away, interest fades into indifference, an indifference nurtured by the daily demands made upon us by a fast moving world in which we must find our way. However, for a firefighter who may have inhaled or absorbed a carcinogenic substance at one of the quickly dismissed incidents, indifference may not be possible. Their lives may be changed forever.
Things are different today
A firefighter who is exposed to a cancer causing substance may not be aware of his plight. Symptoms may not show up until months or years later, long after a memory of the incident during | which exposure took place has been forgotten. What recourse will the firefighter have? To whom does he turn for compensation or to be taken care of? A paid firefighter may have medical and pension protection, but what about a volunteer? What kind of records are kept? Are there any records kept? Does he have a reference of physical statistics on himself before exposure? How can a volunteer begin to trace back the events that took place? Without such records, how can accountability for damages be placed? These are important considerations.
Things are different today. A firefighter of yesteryear battled a blaze that frequently was fed from fuels of natural substances: wood, paper, cloth, petroleum, rubber, etc. Of course, after World War II that began to change and change rapidly. With the advent of plastics, the by-products of a fire radically changed. The petrochemical and chemical industries have brought us into an expanding world of new substances—all of which give firefighting a new significance and the firefighter an environment that must be considered a potential health hazard.
As a firefighter in the 1950s in the Bronx, NY, I and other firefighters seldom wore self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA). Nowadays, to disregard the use of a mask on a consistent basis can be sheer insanity. In a fire, the materials around you are breaking down and can produce a most damaging atmosphere in which to work. Just as the water and earth can be contaminated by pesticides, petrochemicals, and chemicals, you too can be negatively influenced.
For a firefighter, it’s a different world and a different ballgame. Today, a firefighter must thoroughly realize that he is not facing what the firefighter of just 20 years ago faced. There are things in today’s environment that can hurt you—and hurt you forever.
Volunteers may need help
It would seem that a volunteer firefighter is in need of attention. Attention in the form of concern for individual safety. Safety, in the firefighter’s world, can no longer be considered as it was years ago, the protection from physical injury from such things as falls, cuts, carbon monoxide, and burns. The toxic and carcinogenic nature of a possible fire or emergency incident has changed all of that.
Today’s and especially tomorrow’s technological and chemically enriched fire incident or work place emergency is not conducive to the well-being of fire service members. And a lack of proper training in the approach to and use of protective equipment needed for such an incident only adds to the potential for personal injury. In addition, there may be a growing conflict between the open and honest response of a community minded individual (the volunteer firefighter) and the contents stored within the community, as well as~ with the people who knowingly store such contents and who permit a vol unteer firefighter to come in contact with such contents. There is also the interesting question of legal and moral responsibility associated with town and city administrators who are aware of such potentially hazardous conditions and knowingly do nothing to properly. equip or train a volunteer firefighter. Perhaps there is no problem. Perhaps I’m overly concerned or perhaps I’m overly imaginative, but since writing a few articles dealing with the right-tar know laws and with Subpart L of the Occupational Safety and Health Ad ministration (OSHA) law, I have re ceived phone calls and letters that would seem to indicate that the volun teer firefighter in America needs at tention.
A need for change
There is a need for change or perhaps I should say there seems to be a need for change. It appears that there is no centralized agency concerned with the safety of a volunteer firefighter. There -is a great deal of knowledge about what’s going on, but there doesn’t seem to be a medium by which this knowledge gets back to the volunteer in a small town; nor does it seem that safety has received proper national emphasis.
In a recent phone conversation with a firefighter who was working hard to politically lobby favorable clauses for firefighters in his state’s right-to-know law, another aspect surfaced, an aspect of safety that is really a disgrace. The individual said, “Gee, don’t write anything of w’hat I’ve told you. If the local politicans knew that these protective additions to the law for firefighters’ safety would mean more money out of the budget, they’d do all that they could to kill it. Let’s keep our mouths shut until it becomes a state law.” Ask yourself how that thinking fits in with the outgoing and generous nature of an individual who volunteers to fight fires for his community. There is a need for change. Indifference should not be tolerated.
Is Your Safety Legislated?
What we can do
Why don’t you, the reader of this article, send to me, Hugh Caulfield, in care of FIRE ENGINEERING any information regarding safety and especially safety legislation in your area. For example, ■ what state laws are in effect to assure that you are properly equipped with SC BA and firefighting gear? How are you protected by state law against the ■many new as well as the old hazards in your work environment? What about training to cope with the new hazards? Does your state have a right-to-know law? If your state does have such a law, does it relate to a firefighter? What’s the definition of a work place »under your state’s right-to-know law?
Don’t restrict yourself just to the right-to-know law. Is there any centralized state agency that has the safety interest of a firefighter at heart, especially a volunteer firefighter? Why a volunteer? Because a paid firefighter frequently has a strong union to watch after his interests. The volunteer seems to be on his own.
Conclusion
FIRE ENGINEERING is a national magazine. It’s read by thousands of firefighters all over the United States and Canada. Let’s use it to address issues that are of great importance to you. The information that is received can be studied and related to firefighters in other parts of our country. A national picture of where we are in the safety arena can be gained and given to you instantly. Your problems or needs could be similiar to other departments who have already faced and solved their situation.
It’s difficult to predict exactly how this idea will work, but it could, just by addressing your needs, serve to help. We at FIRE ENGINEERING are willing to give you our attention; so why not fill us in on your situation? Tell us about the fires that you think may have caused serious injury or lasting illness to your brother firefighters. Don’t worry about how you write, just get us the information. We’ll do the rest.
