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Fire/EMS Safety Week eNews
June 15, 2009

Dear EMS1 Member:

With the 2009 Fire/EMS Safety, Health and Survival Week getting under way yesterday, EMS1 will be offering a range of exclusive articles and resources over the coming days to aid you and your agency.

This year's theme is, 'Protect Yourself: Your Safety, Health and Survival Are Your Responsibility.'

We mark our special coverage today with Kelly Grayson presenting a letter from the chief of the Metropolitan Fire Department to all members…

--The EMS1 Editorial Staff



By Kelly Grayson, EMS1.com Columnist

Letter from Isaac Abraham Fudpucker, Chief

Once again, we find ourselves observing Fire/EMS Safety, Health and Survival Week, and I am proud to say that the S.H.I.T. we pulled last year has really paid big dividends! Workplace injuries are at an all-time low, and our poster presentation at the Fire Rescue International conference last August was well-received. In fact, a number of the judges complimented us on the fact that, unlike many other entrants, our S.H.I.T. didn’t stink.

All of us need to remember that safety is not just something we observe one week a year. It takes constant vigilance to promote a safety culture here at Metropolitan Fire Department, and with that in mind, and as successful as last year's program was, we can't just keep doing the same S.H.I.T. year after year.

So with that in mind, I'd like to address a few new safety issues that have cropped up since last year:

The use of "Probie Canaries" is to be limited to investigation of suspicious smells in firehouse bathrooms and refrigerators only. On all real calls, everyone — probies included — is expected to wear the appropriate personal protective equipment. We've lost half of this year's recruit class already, and it's only June.
It seems that some of you haven't learned from last year's unfortunate intersection accident between Rescue Four and Ladder Seven. It has come to my attention that someone in the department is spreading misinformation about our departmental policies in regard to intersection right-of-way.

For the last time, there is no "lug nut rule" that grants the right-of-way to the vehicle with the highest number of lug nuts. If that were the case, I'd have the right-of-way at every intersection, because I run a fire department staffed entirely with lug nuts.

Horseplay in the firehouses is expressly forbidden. I know that a practical joke here and there lightens tension, and I'll admit to Saran-wrapping a few toilet bowls back in my day, but this has gotten out of hand.

And to the joker who rubbed all the bedding down in the headquarters bunkroom with fiberglass insulation, I will find out who you are. Count on it.

Speaking of jokers — to whoever posted that fake NFPA bulletin on the board at Station Four — good one! You even had me going, right up to the part about new NFPA standards discouraging unsafe practices like running into burning buildings. Everybody knows that something that stupid could only come from OSHA!
The departmental wellness program is paying big dividends in reducing lost time injuries and sick days, but some of you have gone a bit overboard in your efforts to win the Weight Loss Challenge. I strongly discourage the use of stimulants, even the legal ones, as diet aids. Half of you are bouncing around here like a bunch of sugared up six-year-olds at a pajama party.

On the bright side, the stations have never been cleaner, and the crew at Station Seven managed to check every hydrant in the city in less than an hour!

Read on to see what Grayson has to say about numbers six through ten.

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