Apparatus Safety
Read this article from Fire Chief about the Apparatus Specification and Vehicle Maintenance Symposium recently held in Orlando, FL.
Here are some highlights:
NFPA 1901 Safety Task Force Committee Chairman Robert Tutterow's presentation on specifying safety in apparatus recommended that departments:Remove SCBAs from cabs,
Hold officers and operators accountable, and
Prohibit the use of personal vehicles for response....
Texas trial lawyer Jim Juneau gave the most riveting presentation of the conference. He pointedly told attendees what to do when something is wrong with an apparatus: "If you're not in charge of the apparatus, bitch! If you are in charge of the apparatus, listen!" He noted that regular preventive maintenance checks are "absolutely essential."
...
Juneau then took on tanker rollovers. From 1977 to 1999, there were 73 tanker deaths; 78% or 54 were rollovers resulting in firefighter fatalities. "Riding in a tanker may be among a firefighter's most dangerous duties," he said. "There is a movement to remove lights and sirens from tankers."
All interesting points. Here are my thoughts:
Remove SCBAs from cabs:
Is this really a big problem? I've tried to stay up-to-date on death and injury reports and I haven't heard much about this. As a firefighter in a department that doesn't have SCBAs in the cab now, I wish we had a truck with this feature. Its a pain in the keester and much slower to don SCBA at the scene.
Prohibit the use of personal vehicles for response:
This would be impractical in rural areas. Many times we have firefighters close to the incident and it would be a mistake to require them to respond to the fire hall first and then drive to the incident in a department vehicle. Some of our responses are over 20 miles away.
Tender safety:
I'm not sure removing lights and sirens from tenders is the right answer.
OK, after saying all of that, it may sound like I'm against safety. I'm all for safety! Safety first. However, let's not reduce our effectiveness without studying the issue in depth.
Comments
Wait, taking out the SCBA from the cabs is supposed to improve things? That would mean losing compartment space for tools if we did that. Every piece in my county has SCBA in the cab in a harness for each seat except the driver's. It saves time and no one has ever been hurt. But the guy making the recommendation was a lawyer so what do you expect?
Posted by: Mia at January 30, 2006 01:20 PM
Required maintenance and professional inspection, a significant updating of tanker standards, the removal of lights and sirens, as well mandated training and operational requirements for tanker drivers will save Firefighters lives. The numbers don't lie.
Posted by: FF at January 31, 2006 10:32 AM
