Training drill by Forest Reeder
In this new series of training drills provided by Fire Engineering, we will be providing a training module for the safety officer. The unique thing about this series that you will find is that even if you are not the designated safety officer for your fire department, almost the entire content of the drill will apply to officers and firefighters alike. Someone (meaning even you) will be responsible for performing these functions and to provide immediate intervention and/or corrective actions if fellow firefighters place themselves into a hazardous position. These drills will provide a brief discussion on the skill or knowledge level, provide some best practice tips and ask a series of questions that you will need to answer acting in the capacity of a safety officer or just someone who is trying to prevent harm to other firefighters.
The first drill covers the basic process and duties that the safety officer performs continually during an incident. This model can be used at almost every type of incident that a safety officer is assigned to.The Incident Safety Officer (ISO) must be able to assess scene hazards for conditions and actions that are immediately or potentially dangerous to firefighters. A process of determining these factors must be used at every incident that the ISO responds to. Using a basic risk management approach, the ISO could determine these factors in a logical manner. This process, known by the acronym IEPCM–which stands for Identify, Evaluate, Prioritize, Control, and Monitor–allows the ISO to evaluate and prioritize incident scene hazards.
Download this drill as a PDF HERE.
Forest Reeder began his fire service career in 1979. He serves as Division Chief of Training & Safety for the Des Plaines (IL) Fire Department. He is a past recipient of the International Society of Fire Service Instructors (ISFSI) prestigious George D. Post Instructor of the Year award and has been responsible for the design, implementation and coordination of in-service firefighter training activities as well as a full-service fire training academy program. Forest holds numerous Illinois fire service
