Advocating a Cultural Change for Firefighter Safety

Are you aware of the National Fallen Firefighter's Foundation’s Everyone Goes Home Program (http://www.everyonegoeshome.org ) and the 16 Firefighter Life Safety Initiatives? What are you personally doing to support and advocate safety improvements in your organization or in the way you do business in the street? Are you supportive of changes in the way we operate in the name of safety and LODD reduction, can we make the necessary changes or is a passing fad?

Firefighter Life Safety Initiatives

The Firefighter Life Safety Summit held in Tampa, Florida, in March 2004, produced 16 major initiatives that will give the fire service a blueprint for making changes.

1. Define and advocate the need for a cultural change within the fire service relating to safety, incorporating leadership, management, supervision, accountability and personal responsibility.

2. Enhance the personal and organizational accountability for health and safety throughout the fire service.

3. Focus greater attention on the integration of risk management with incident management at all levels, including strategic, tactical, and planning responsibilities.

4. Empower all firefighters to stop unsafe practices.

5. Develop and implement national standards for training, qualifications, and certification (including regular recertification) that are equally applicable to all firefighters, based on the duties they are expected to perform.

6. Develop and implement national medical and physical fitness standards that are equally applicable to all firefighters, based on the duties they are expected to perform.

7. Create a national research agenda and data collection system that relate to the initiatives.

8. Utilize available technology wherever it can produce higher levels of health and safety.

9. Thoroughly investigate all firefighter fatalities, injuries, and near misses.

10. Ensure grant programs support the implementation of safe practices and/or mandate safe practices as an eligibility requirement.

11. Develop and champion national standards for emergency response policies and procedures.

12. Develop and champion national protocols for response to violent incidents.

13. Provide firefighters and their families access to counseling and psychological support.

14. Provide public education more resources and champion it as a critical fire and life safety program.

15. Strengthen advocacy for the enforcement of codes and the installation of home fire sprinklers.

16. Make safety a primary consideration in the design of apparatus and equipment.