Firefighter safety is always a priority for any fire chief. Over the last three decades, the fire service has applied new technology, adopted better protective clothing and equipment, implemented modern standard operating procedures, and improved training. At the same time, the country also has seen a 54% drop in the number of structural fires. But have we really made a difference?

Firefighter line-of-duty deaths remain high and have essentially held steady over the past decade at 100 to 110 deaths annually. Injuries also remain high with only modest reductions.

In my many years as a chief officer, including two separate stints as a department safety officer and fire chief for two different fire departments, I've learned that there are three essential influences in creating a safety-conscious work force: awareness training, clearly stated safety policies and procedures, and demonstrated commitment to safety by the fire chief and the department's management team. Without these key elements, a fire department can have the most modern equipment and technology and still operate in an unsafe manner. The fire chief can generate a wave of policies and standard operating procedures relating to safety, but if the management team doesn't enforce them, there will be little change of safety attitudes and behaviors in the work force.

Outside influences

Standard operating procedures are typically situational or task-related, and therefore can be fragmented and not closely interconnected. Often, there is no clear-cut, overriding policy or SOP that states the fire chief's and the fire department's global position on safety. This isn't true of other fire services.

Historically, the British fire service has a dramatically lower rate of line-of-duty deaths than the United States. That fire service places a very strong emphasis on safety starting with the recruit class. As a firefighter advances through the ranks, there's a structured escalation of safety-related training and responsibilities for safe practices. For some time now, the British fire service has also applied a “safe person” concept that introduces good safety attitudes to the recruit and reinforces good behaviors and practices in all ranks. It's a global policy statement on safety and responsibility. It's proved to be especially applicable during emergency operations, resulting in fewer line-of-duty deaths.

Also somewhat hindering America's fire service awareness training is the fact that the fire service maintains a semi-military style of management, particularly on the fireground. The command system is primarily one-way directives. The incident commander gives orders, and the command organization reacts. The command system is essential to effective and safe management of resources, but the system doesn't always provide a comfortable means for firefighters down the chain of command to say no to unsafe practices or conditions.

The aviation industry experienced a similar challenge with one-way decision-making and communication. The old culture placed the captain in charge of the aircraft and the work environment. The culture didn't tolerate a challenge from crew members. As a result, captains occasionally flew their planes into the ground, even as other crew members knew something was wrong. Commercial airline companies fixed that problem through a new management system called “crew resource management,” which required the captain to listen to crew input regarding safety and authorized the crew to participate. The program resulted in a substantial reduction in accidents caused by pilot errors.

Taking the best elements of the British fire service and aviation safety programs, I developed a model safety policy called “Best Safety Practices in Risk Assessment and Decision-Making.” The model clearly defines safety responsibility and authorizes any member to say “no” to an unsafe practice or condition. This model was introduced to the Seattle Fire Department during my tenure as chief and has been adopted by my current fire department. It has been reviewed by the International Association of Fire Chiefs Safety Section and has been made available as a sample “model” policy by the section.

Empowered approach

The nine-item policy model directly states the department's global position on safety and the responsibilities of all members. It can serve as an excellent model for any fire department.

1. All members are responsible for their own safety and the safety of all personnel working with them. Simply put, firefighters need to watch out for themselves and fellow firefighters. Firefighters are almost always up close and personal with the risk; they should not count on others for their personal survival.

   The safety officer can't be in all places all the time. Neither can the supervising, division, group or sector officer. If a risk or hazard is present, a firefighter needs to be aware and take appropriate action to make the situation safer. In some situations, the hazard must be reported to command officers.

2. All members are responsible for continuously identifying unsafe conditions and are authorized to report such conditions. Conditions on the fireground are constantly changing, most often getting worse for a time. The firefighter must be in the habit of constantly looking for situations that will harm firefighters. The more eyes observing a risk or hazard, the more likely it will be detected. All firefighters must be allowed to report those unsafe conditions without hesitation or retribution, no matter their rank. It's always better to have information regarding potential risk than to have a surprise problem that can kill firefighters.

3. If it looks unsafe or “feels” unsafe, don't do it. Communicate it up, down and across. Gut feelings often are correct. Sometimes the firefighter just senses a bad situation. Rather than suck it up, the appropriate response is to take a few moments to analyze the risk and communicate the concern to the supervising command officer.

4. Any member is authorized to say no to unsafe practices or conditions. Stop, talk and decide. This by no means suggests that a firefighter can be insubordinate. This policy does, however, allow a red flag to be raised by any member. When the red flag is raised, the supervisor and crew must take a moment to stop, talk (quickly assess) and decide (go/no-go decision). In some cases, the situation may affect other areas of the fireground and must be communicated to other command officers. In other words, it may only take a few seconds to stop and review the situation, quickly talk about it, and then decide on the safest course of action.

   The importance of this item was illustrated by a firefighter during the introduction of this policy. On Jan. 5, 1995, Seattle lost four firefighters when the first floor of a commercial building collapsed into the basement. In the early moments of that nighttime fire, interior crews didn't know there was a basement.

   A firefighter described his crew arriving after the first-due company and stretching a line to the front door. As he was leaning over and putting his SCBA facepiece on, he noticed smoke pushing out of the cracks in the sidewalk. At that moment, he thought it was an odd occurrence. He said that the new procedure would have made it more comfortable to raise the red flag and ask why smoke would be coming out of a sidewalk.

   No one knows if such an alert would have made a difference in the outcome, but the oddity of that situation clearly identifies a need to stop, talk and decide.

5. All command organization officers are responsible for accepting and appropriately acting on all safety-related information to make the incident site safer. All officers receiving a red flag message must accept the information and take appropriate action. It's unacceptable for any member in the command organization to reject a safety concern. This statement also clearly places accountability on those who receive a red flag communication and fail to take action.

6. Communication of safety-related information to officers in the command organization is critical — and is two-way. Information on safety issues goes up the chain of command as well as down from the incident commander or division, group or sector officers. If interior crews are reporting progress, but the incident commander or other officers, on the exterior are observing worsening conditions, that information must be communicated down the chain of command to interior crews.

7. Command organization officers must continually keep all personnel working for them well-informed of changing conditions and safety matters. Conditions change throughout the incident. Proper decisions can't be made without current information. There must not be any withholding of information on safety matters. A significant safety problem or changing conditions identified in one area of the fireground can often affect the entire fireground. Critical, life-threatening situations or conditions must be reported immediately by use of a special radio tone to alert the fireground.

   Use of the term “emergency traffic” also gets attention and places a priority on the message. The term “mayday,” however, should be reserved only for firefighters in trouble. Whether it's critical or routine awareness reports, all officers in the command organization must pass on appropriate information to supervisors or firefighters working for them.

8. Command organization officers shall not allow unsafe practices. While each firefighter is responsible for his or her own safety, as well as for the safety of other members, the ultimate responsibility lies with the supervising officers at the incident, including the incident commander. The message has to be that the fire chief simply will not tolerate unsafe practices, and supervisors will be held accountable.

9. Safety assessment is continuous and must be part of all ongoing decision-making. All personnel must understand that conditions and risk are constantly changing. Firefighters and supervisors can't have tunnel vision. What looked safe when one arrives on scene can clearly be very risky minutes later. Changing conditions must be considered with each and every decision, whether by the fire captain about to advance a crew deeper into the building or by the incident commander about to assign a crew. Every decision should trigger an assessment.

The nine-item model policy provides a global statement by the fire chief to all members of the department regarding safety. It gives guidance to supervisors and firefighters in how to process and communicate safety-related information to responsible officers for decision-making. The policy authorizes all members to report safety and risk concerns. It identifies responsibility and accountability for safety. It creates an environment for good safety behaviors that can prevent firefighter fatalities. The model policy provides a tool to ensure that everyone goes home.

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Gary Morris is the fire chief for the Rural-Metro Fire Department, Maricopa and Pinal County Operations, near Phoenix. He previously was the fire chief for the Seattle Fire Department, and he retired as an assistant chief with the Phoenix Fire Department after a 30-year career. He holds a master's degree in organizational management from the University of Phoenix.