In his most recent article for FireRescue1, National Fallen Firefighters Foundation Executive Director Ron Siarnicki discussed the successes in the fire service since the 16 Life Safety Initiatives were crafted almost 10 years ago.
One of those successes is the improved use of seatbelts in fire trucks; they have certainly saved firefighters from death and injury. But as Chief Siarnicki points out, there is still more work to be done on the firefighter safety front.
That message is driven home by the findings out of Tulsa, Okla., where an investigation into the September crash between two fire department rigs made some startling discoveries. First, it revealed that four of the eight firefighters involved were not wearing seatbelts.
Second, and more disconcerting, it showed that many of the department’s apparatus had their seatbelt warning devices purposely disabled.
In my opinion, Tulsa Fire Chief Ray Driskell acted appropriately. He disciplined some of those involved in the crash and sent a stern warning that future vehicle tampering will be grounds for serious discipline. He did not embark on what could have been a witch hunt to find out who was responsible for disabling the vehicle safety devices in the first place.
One reader commented that the department must have a sense of safety as the rigs were both traveling at only 25 mph through an intersection. That’s an interesting observation.
For Chief Driskell, the threat of punishment will only be so effective. The same is true for a new process that makes a seatbelt-use announcement with every tone — at some point those will become background noise like in-cab seatbelt alarms.
As Chief Siarnicki reminds us, the successes that came out of the Tampa meetings nearly 10 years ago — and any that may come of the revisited effort next year — required a culture shift in the fire service.
Chief Driskell cannot afford to ignore the culture of his department if he hopes to fix the seatbelt issue. If the commenter about the rigs’ speed is right, a good portion of the desired culture may already be in place.
It may not be seatbelts, but it is a safe bet that every department has some area where it needs to improve its safety. The Tulsa incident is a reminder to us all to look at out practices and culture for ways to improve both.
Hopefully the next round of meetings in Tampa will provide us more and better tools to do just that.
