Risk is unavoidable in the fire service — but that does not mean every risk is necessary. One of the more subtle threats to firefighter safety develops not during a rapidly changing structure fire, but slowly — one shortcut, exception or overlooked procedure at a time. It is called normalization of deviance.
Sociologist Diane Vaughan explored the concept through her study of the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. In simple terms, normalization of deviance occurs when people repeatedly depart from an established standard without suffering an immediate negative consequence. Eventually, the departure or “deviation” stops feeling like a departure at all and becomes “normal.”
| READ MORE: Confronting the normalization of deviance in firefighter behavior
An even simpler definition may be useful: We did it wrong. Nothing happened. So we did it wrong again. Eventually, wrong started feeling right.
FireRescue1 contributor Bruce Bjorge highlighted examples such as unsecured SCBA straps and helmet chin straps, improper gloves and unnecessarily aggressive apparatus operation as behaviors that can become normalized when firefighters repeatedly experience them without injury or discipline. The problem is that firefighters can unintentionally treat the absence of consequences as evidence of safety. But those are two very different things.
Driving too fast through an intersection 20 times without crashing doesn’t prove the 21st trip will be safe. Entering a building without an adequate size-up and returning safely doesn’t prove the tactic was appropriate. Skipping an SCBA inspection without experiencing a failure doesn’t mean the inspection wasn’t important. It may simply mean the system hasn’t failed yet.
How standards begin to drift
Normalization of deviance isn’t a firefighter showing up at work and deciding, “Today I’m going to operate unsafely.” The progression is often much less dramatic:
- A crew is busy and an equipment check gets shortened or skipped.
- A policy seems inconvenient during an incident, so someone develops a workaround.
- A firefighter takes a shortcut during training.
- An officer sees something that isn’t quite right but decides it isn’t worth making an issue of it.
Then it happens again. And again. Each successful outcome reinforces the behavior.
Pressures involving time, cost and other operational demands can encourage firefighters to create workarounds. When those workarounds repeatedly produce acceptable outcomes, they can become embedded in how firefighters train and operate.
Eventually, a new member entering the organization may not even recognize the behavior as a shortcut. To that firefighter, that’s simply how this department does it. That is when individual deviation becomes organizational culture.
What does normalization of deviance look like?
The concept can apply nearly anywhere firefighters operate. Think about daily routine tasks and actions:
- An apparatus inspection gets pencil-whipped because “the last crew checked it.”
- A firefighter repeatedly rides without properly using a restraint.
- An SCBA check becomes looking at the pressure gauge instead of completing the department’s required inspection.
- Contaminated PPE stays in living or sleeping areas because that’s how gear has always been handled.
- A radio with a questionable battery goes back into service.
- An officer skips the 360 because the fire looks straightforward from Side Alpha.
- A crew repeatedly pushes farther into a deteriorating structure without reassessing conditions because previous fires worked out.
- A firefighter sees an unsafe practice but doesn’t say anything because the person doing it has more seniority.
Normalization of deviance can affect nearly every aspect of fire service operations, from size-up and radio readiness to apparatus checks, supervision, patient care and policy compliance. When unsafe shortcuts are repeatedly accepted without consequences, they can gradually become embedded in department culture.
Firefighting requires risk — but not unmanaged risk
Firefighter safety isn’t about eliminating risk or sacrificing an aggressive response. Firefighters will sometimes accept significant risk to save a life. The key is to ensure that risk is recognized, calculated and justified by a legitimate objective.
The NIOSH Alert on risk management at structure fires calls for departments to develop and enforce risk-management policies and SOPs/SOGs, train firefighters and incident commanders in those practices, and continually match tactics to conditions.
Similarly, the International Association of Fire Chiefs’ Rules of Engagement for Firefighter Survival tells firefighters to size up their tactical area, monitor air and fire conditions, report unsafe practices and take measured risk when savable lives are involved.
Challenge your crew
At your next company drill or kitchen-table discussion, ask every member to identify one routine activity where actual practice may differ from policy, training or manufacturer guidance.
Then ask three questions:
- What is the established standard?
- Why have we drifted from it?
- What happens on the day our shortcut doesn’t work?
Pick one example and correct it.
Remember, recognizing and correcting that drift is part of everyone’s responsibility.
