By Jamie Thompson
EMS1 News Editor
LAS VEGAS — Does the public safety industry have a culture of safety or a culture of discipline and punishment? The latter, according to a session at Fire-Rescue Med in Las Vegas on Wednesday.
“If you look at the aviation side, you hear all the time about near misses,” Jeff Lindsey, a FireRescue1 columnist told attendees.
“How many times do you think pilots get disciplined for their near miss? They don’t. Do we have a culture of safety or a culture of discipline? We have a culture of discipline.”
While this attitude is deeply embedded in many departments and agencies, the National Fire Fighter Near-Miss Reporting System – which EMS can also be a part of – is designed to ensure anonymity for those who use it, according to Lindsey.
Its origins come from the aviation industry, and anyone can use it, from the chief down to the firefighter or EMT, the session was told.
“What they (the aviation industry) have found by doing this is a better safety data environment, which in turn makes for a better safety environment,” Lindsey said.
However, many departments themselves still put too much emphasis on punishing those who are involved in a near miss as opposed to ensuring everyone can learn from it.
“When something goes wrong, what’s our focus? Who did it, because heads are going to roll, because what we have is a culture of discipline,” Lindsey said.
The presentation – EMS and Ambulance Safety – was jointly hosted by Jeff Lindsey and Richard Patrick, director of Medical Fire Responder Coordination at DHS, who offered a federal perspective on the session’s topic.
“For the first time in my 32-plus year career, I can stand here and assure you that every national organization that represents everything you do is on the exact same page when it relates to safety,” Patrick told the session. “That’s pretty impressive.”
“There’s not too many other things in our industry we can say that about.
Patrick is one of the figures involved with the Safety and Health Committee of the Federal Interagency Committee on Emergency Medical Services (FICEMS), which was established in 2005 to ensure coordination among federal agencies involved with State, local, tribal, and regional emergency medical services and 911 systems.
“We are looking at provider health and safety, we are looking at patient health and safety issues and we are looking at the number one greatest risk there is within our industry and all aspects associated with that – anything driving related,” Patrick said.
Another stride toward making EMS safer on a national level – and in particular as it relates to responses – is NFPA 1917: Standard for Automotive Ambulances, which, the session was told, should come into effect by next summer.
This will “replace” the Triple K (KKK-A-1822) specification, which was originally written to be a buying specification for federal government ambulances.
“It was never intended to be the standard to build ambulances for the nation but it became that,” Patrick said.
About two years ago, the federal government decided to get out the business of ambulance standards from this perspective and turned it over to the National Fire Protection Association.”
Some areas discussed during the committee process include load capacities, seat belt monitors, tire pressure monitors, and black boxes, the session was told.
However, when it comes to responder safety on a general level – whether it be responses or scene safety — Patrick said one of the main solutions is for chiefs and officers is to lead by example.
“We know the story of how a picture is worth a thousand words,” he said.
“If you show up on the crash scene and you don’t have your bunker gear on, but you expect your crew to have it on, then shame on you. And drive sensibly – it’s infectious. I can’t emphasize it enough.”