BY PETER J. LAMB
Firefighter safety is about 10 percent related to new technology and equipment and about 90 percent to firefighter behaviors. With that in mind, I researched programs used to counsel individuals in how to control negative behavior. The 12 steps presented here have been adapted from highly respected professional organizations that have been helping individuals for many years. My hope is that they will help firefighters to change behavior that can put them and others at risk.
SOME STARTING PRINCIPLES
Our common welfare and firefighters’ health and safety depend on the unity of thought, culture, and belief of the fire service as a group. The current problem is that some of these beliefs and thought processes have to change if we are to have an impact on the 90 to 100 firefighter fatalities and 90,000 to 100,000 firefighter injuries each year. (I am not considering the tragedy of September 11, 2001; I am convinced as a fire service professional that the catastrophic collapse of two 110-story buildings could not have been predicted or prevented and that this was a horrible and tragic anomaly.)
THE BASIC REQUIREMENTS
You must have a desire to reduce firefighter death and injury statistics by safe action and beliefs in your daily life. Much lip service is paid to safety these days; in a classroom environment or an academic testing situation, firefighters say the right things and give the right answers. Ask how many wear seatbelts in the apparatus; then watch how many of them actually do so. Ask how many arm their PASS devices all the time, and you realize that this is a mask. Sure, some progressive departments require that these things be done and monitor safety practices, but I am suggesting this is having little impact on our operations. Make sure that you show by your actions, not just your words, that you want to do something about safety in a very meaningful way for yourself, the members of your company, and your department as a whole.
THE STEPS
- Admit changes are needed. Let’s admit that we have to change our safety behavior and that fireground deaths and injuries have become unmanageable. This is a simple fact, and we have to say it, write it, and believe it. Over the past 10 years, 1,000 firefighters have died in the United States. One hundred thousand are injured every year. If it is true that major fires occur less frequently and safety standards have increased and yet the numbers of deaths and injuries remain the same, I submit to you the problem may actually be worse than in the past!
Folks tell me about plastics and hotter fires, protective gear ensembles that “overprotect us,” triple-pane windows that hold in heat, and all of those things-you hear about them at your fire station coffee table and at national conferences, and you read about them in textbooks and publications. See, that’s what I am talking about: Step 1 is about admitting there is a problem, not making excuses. The fire service always has an excuse: “not enough personnel,” “city government,” “That’s the way real departments fight fires.” I suggest you have heard them all. I have said some of them myself. But, I have begun to question these things as of late.
As you look at the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) reports, do you read the real cause, or do you just dismiss the human factors and pick out the technical things you can use?
- Get help. We have come to believe that training and technology increase our safety. Is it working out that way? Are current training methods and new technologies reducing the problem? Most firefighters are now using breathing apparatus with integrated PASS devices. We now have members who don’t go on air or turn on their cylinder until it is absolutely necessary to work around the PASS device’s sounding. They come out of the building, drop a pack on the ground without shutting it down, and the PASS device sounds. We all ignore it on the fireground. Let me ask you this, “What is the most ignored sound on the fireground?” No, it is not a PASS device, a vibrating alert, or a low-air warning.
How many of you exit the building before your low-air alarm sounds? How many of you keep working even after your low-air alarm sounds? You know what you are supposed to do when it sounds. See, it is not about technology or training; it is about behavior. What is worse is that others look at us and mimic our behavior, which causes it to spread. We have spent countless hours training on rapid intervention techniques in this country. (All of these techniques and training are necessary and should not be ignored.) How many hours and drills have been done on personnel accountability so we can prevent the deployment of a rapid intervention team? See, one of these is dynamic and dramatic; the other is not. Our members have decided “we need more hands-on stuff,” and accountability is for “outside firefighters.”
The training we need is training in how to manage and change our beliefs!
- Turn over the problem. Make a decision to turn your bad behaviors and dangerous traditions into new training concepts and beliefs. Decide now that you, in whatever position you hold in your department, will seek out successful safety behaviors-the things that really make a difference-and implement them at your level. Whether it is a company, shift, or a group level, take a serious positive action. You can make a difference if you start a groundswell. You may not be very popular and may encounter some horrible experiences when you stand up for safety, but the rewards will be great. When the naysayers come out (and they will), see if they can tell you exactly what is more important than their safety. They usually react to this question by grumbling and walking away.
- Look at ourselves. We should take a hard critical look at ourselves-our beliefs, thoughts, and actions about safety. How many of the following have you said or done?
- “I wear the seatbelt in my car, but I can’t wear it in the engine.”
- “My helmet looks pretty cool from that last job!”
- “If I had had five more minutes, I could have gotten that fire. Why did he pull us out?”
- “I know my bell is ringing, but I still have five more minutes of air left; I’ll be OK.”
As I look back at my career and some of my behavior, I see a lot of these things. Close calls and stupid acts made great fire station stories. I think that for a number of years I was giving only lip service to safety. I think differently today, and I am asking you to consider doing so also.
- Admit wrongs to others. Admit to others the exact nature of your wrongs. Provide this information to the training officer and to other firefighters so that others might learn from your mistakes. The “red wall” of silence is playing a part as well; we are afraid to share our mistakes. As firefighters, we believe we can never show weakness. If we evaluate ourselves closely and find that we are weak in some areas, then we should seek and get extensive training ourselves without being asked or mandated to do it.
- Be ready to change behavior. Admit that you are ready to change your behaviors and actions to a safer, more positive method of operating. Show that you have a positive safety attitude-one that allows you to be more open-minded and more global in your approach to safety concepts and ideas. Don’t only talk about safety, but also be respected for it and proud of it and how it shows that you care for yourself, your crew, and other firefighters. Demonstrate this attitude by your actions and demeanor.
- Assess shortcomings. At an officer’s meeting or a department training session, have officers evaluate and assess safety shortcomings fairly and in an unbiased way. Listen to others, look at other departments, look at applicable national standards; realistically look at how you and your members are doing-without excuses! Use post-incident analysis and critiques to learn from any mistakes that may have been made in the incident. Be serious; take a hard look before issuing the general assessment “Great job, guys.” Challenge yourself and your members regularly; don’t be afraid to be tested. Ask for it, and welcome it!
- Make a list. Make a written list of all of the people who may have been affected by your dangerous acts and beliefs.
Activity: Consider one incident at which you committed an unsafe act that could have had an injury or a death as the outcome. List all the people (individual names, not groups of people) who might have been affected by this negative outcome.
Completing this assignment will really change your behavior if you take it seriously. Think of family members without you, or one of your department member’s families without that member. Con-sider friends and coworkers and how their lives would be changed. If you take only this one lesson from this article seriously, you will think hard about whether the unsafe acts are really worth it.
We all at one time or another have done something that would fall into this ‘safety compromising” category. We should ask, “Is any of what we have done or the small risks we have taken worth it?” Firefighters will always risk their lives for others. It is what we do; it is the nature of our job. We need thinking risk takers!
- Acknowledge potential harm. Apologize verbally or in writing to the people on the above lists, and explain how you came to this decision. Tell the story. Write or verbalize the incident and the safety risk to the people involved, and let them know you will not let this happen again. Many firefighters say they don’t tell family members or loved ones about the hazards of their job. Maybe we should. Vina Drennan, widow of FDNY Captain John Drennan, told the audience at the 2001 Fire Department Instructors Conference: “Take your family downtown and show them what building is worth giving your life for.” It suddenly doesn’t sound so good when it is put that way, does it?
- Take a personal inventory. We must continue to take a personal inventory of our actions, behaviors, and beliefs after each emergency response. If we should behave in an unsafe manner, we should promptly admit, acknowledge, and correct it. Don’t stop! After you are finished reading this article, it will be very easy to never think of it again. If you are sincere in taking this safety pledge, constantly review your actions and remain vigilant. It is very easy to retain those antisafety behaviors and slip into them again.
- Continue to train. We must continue training and examining our and others’ actions. We must continue to use safe practices at all times in all facets of our life so that in emergencies we will rely on our core training safety values, which will carry us through.
- Help others. Right now, safety practices in the fire service are still not fully embraced. You will have to be strong and carry this message through. Your job is not to have a line-of-duty death in your department this year. We are talking about just your department, but if all of us make that our personal goal, what a great year it would be! Firefighting is not a safe profession, and I am not naïve enough to believe that there will not be deaths and injuries considering all the hazards we face. But, if we have no vision and no goal, we will never move forward.
After using this 12-step process to improve our safety attitudes and practices, we must work to help all of our fellow firefighters to strive for the same ideal.
We must truly believe that by our individual actions we can decrease the 90 to 100 firefighter line-of-duty deaths and 90,000 to 100,000 firefighter injuries each year. Are you willing to take the “pledge” with me?
PETER J. LAMB, who has been in the fire service for more than 20 years, is on the staff of the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy. He began his fire service career with the Harris Fire District in Coventry, Rhode Island, and moved through the ranks to become chief. He also served as chief in Tiverton, Rhode Island. He has lectured extensively throughout the New England area.
