Chief Kanterman’s Journal Entry 70
The inventor, thinker, genius, mathematician and all-around smart guy Albert Einstein once said: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” I think he was right. We worked the same way for a long time (240 years or so) and injuries and LODDs became part and parcel to our service. We thought that simply doing it “over and over again” the same way and thinking it would change all by itself, would work. It didn’t and it hasn’t. However we’re making progress because we actually have changed the way we are delivering services and behaving on and off the fire ground. There is lots of discussion on how and when to work safely and when to be cautious and when we take the risks that are necessary for good fireground outcomes. Battalion Chief (Ret.) Dave Dodson said, “We need to be intellectually aggressive, not arbitrarily aggressive.” Wow! This quote should be hanging in every firehouse in the country. Being an aggressive interior fire department is OK however we needn’t put personal safety on the line for non-urgent situations. Is changing the way 1 million firefighters think and behave an easy task? Of course not. It’s like turning around an aircraft carrier. What most of us who have been around longer than 20 minutes talk about are the actual components of the “safety system” that make up the whole. A robust training program and a solid set of SOPs/SOGs that you train to create the very foundation of safety, along with a strong fire code enforcement unit, Fire Marshals Office, or Bureau of Fire Prevention. Again, it’s only one component of the “safety system” along with risk management, culture (attitude) change, engineering controls, command and control, communications, leadership, advocacy, the built environment, fire prevention and protection, inspections and familiarization tours, wellness, illness and injury prevention, and much more. It’s truly a system.
A lot of attention has been paid, especially lately to the role(s) of the company officer and rightfully so. It took us chief officers a long time to understand that everything starts and stops with first line supervision. How goes the officer, so goes the crew or the company. While safety starts with each individual firefighter, it rests squarely on the shoulders of first line supervision so it is imperative that our line officers will become safety advocates. The “lead by example” mantra applies here tenfold. Telling firefighters to wear any piece of PPE and the officer not wearing the same piece is is a poor practice including something as simple as wearing a seat belt. There are far too many photos of chiefs in front of fire buildings wearing a Class B button down shirt and a radio, or worse, inside the structure in question. Officers (all officers) need to set the tone and the boundaries, walk the talk at all times and at all levels. For our people, at times it’s simply a coaching job. (Hey Mike, put your gloves on.” “Hey Donna, pull up your hood.”) It doesn’t have to be formal or loud. A subtle reminder in a person’s ear works well. Also remember that “what you allow to happen without your intervention becomes your standard.” I heard that a long time ago from North Attleboro (MA) Chief (Ret.) Peter Lamb. If you don’t stop bad habits or bad behavior, then by default, you own it.
A long time ago we thought the NFPA 1500 committee was way out of the box and out of their minds all those years ago, however here we years later, and most of us are doing most of it, if not all of it, now. Be patient. Turning that carrier around takes time and requires deliberate, consistent action. And that’s from a guy who was not in the Navy!
Be well, stay well, be safe.
Ronnie K
RON KANTERMAN is the executive inspector of the Bureau of Fire Prevention for the Fire Department of New York. He is a more than four-decade veteran of the fire service and recently retired as chief of the Wilton (CT) Fire Department. He has a B.A. degree in fire administration and two master’s degrees. He’s a contributing author for Fire Engineering, the Fire Engineering Handbook for Firefighter I and II, and the 7th edition of the Fire Chief’s Handbook.
MORE
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- Thanks for the Memories, Bobby
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This commentary reflects the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of Fire Engineering. It has not undergone Fire Engineering‘s peer-review process.
