By Ken Robinson
EMS1 Staff
HAGERSTOWN, Md. — Reckless and inappropriate conduct by a small minority of the nation’s fire service is eroding the high moral ground occupied by firefighters, according to a new report.
Cheating, arson, theft, alcohol and substance abuse, harassment, discrimination, and misuse of departmental and personal information technology are among the ethical problems discussed in the white paper issued Wednesday.
“We want to create a discussion about poor behavior and how to address that poor behavior,” said Steve Austin, of Cumberland Valley Volunteer Firemen’s Association, which drafted the document.
| What it means for EMS By Art Hsieh, EMS1 Editorial Advisor This position paper on the reputation of the fire service profession is timely and needed. The question is, Will the profession heed its call? The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines ethics as the “discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation. It can be at the individual level, and also to a group of like-minded individuals. Ethics is not force fed; you can’t buy it off a shelf and use it like any commodity. A set of ethics is defined at both an individual level, as well as by the group to which he or she belongs. That is why this paper is important, not only for the content it delivers, but for its purpose — to provoke introspection, debate and discourse. It will also provoke criticism, anger and disgust. The paper simply is a mirror. The image it projects must be interpreted by the viewer. Many EMS providers are in the fire service; in many areas of the country, the public equates EMS with its fire department. Remember that the news media does not report daily good deeds; it reports on bad ones because they are more “newsworthy.” It takes many good deeds to repair a damaged image tarnished by a negative one. As public safety providers we have an obligation to ourselves and to our public to keep our moral compass straight. Let’s hope that this paper helps to drive that goal. Art Hsieh, MA, NREMT-P, is Chief Executive Officer & Education Director of the San Francisco Paramedic Association, a published author of EMS textbooks and a national presenter on clinical and education subjects. |
Reducing firefighter misconduct has a practical application because funding, along with relations with officials and residents, depends on firefighters’ reputations as “the good guys,” according to Austin.
‘Code of Ethics’
The fire service faces a host of issues that threaten its “integrity and sterling public image,” according to the summary of the report. “This risk is increased by the lightning speed at which information, and sometimes misinformation, is transmitted and propagated,” it said.
“Moreover, because of the continuing advent of technology, no longer can any issue be considered truly ‘local’ as even the most isolated of matters affecting the most far-flung of departments can sully the reputation of the entire fires service.”
While Austin says the leaders behind the project aren’t advocating a specific code of conduct or a particular set of rules nationwide, he hopes fire departments and organizations will be inspired to tackle bad behavior, possibly creating their own guidelines.
Many groups can take the initiative to address issues directly relevant to them, he said.
Austin added that he has received much positive feedback since the report was published, but acknowledges that some members in the fire service may be sensitive to the issue.
“This is tough, because it forces us to look within,” he said.
“We hope it’s going to be widely discussed — I don’t want to say accepted,” he said of the report, cautiously signaling the project leaders do not want to tell fire departments what to do.
“It’s for the fire service to decide,” he said.
Origins and future
The concept for the project came out of a 2007 spring meeting of mid-Atlantic fire service leaders, which had an open forum discussion about ethics in the fire service.
Because CVVFA was behind a 1999 project that aimed to promote scene safety on roadways culminating in the creation of respondersafety.com, fire service leaders began suggesting the organization create a similar initiative on ethics.
As a result, the CVVFA is launching firefighterbehavior.com, which will present incidents in the news of both good and poor behavior by firefighters, which can be used as a learning tool for discussion on how to solve behavior problems.
In this age, Austin said, there are ways to prevent problems like embezzlement and misuse of computers, such as accounting software and Internet regulation.
Firefighterbehavior.com would find actual instances of these incidents, and offer analysis on how to address them.