Management of the overall safety effort for any organization starts with an assessment of where safety stands in everything that the organization does. One excellent way to assess your department's safety profile is through the Center for Public Safety Excellence/Commission on Fire Accreditation International self-assessment process.

Today's fire service increasingly emphasizes firefighter safety, and rightfully so. Discussion often centers around safety programs, procedures and equipment, and their impact on the issue of safety. Knowing where we're actually at in our efforts to provide a safe working environment for our people is a critical first step in making the fire service a safer profession. A department that chooses to commit to the rigors of self-assessment takes a significant step forward in the process of continuous improvement with respect to safety.

There are a number of excellent reasons why an in-depth evaluation of fire and emergency service agencies is critical today, such as coping with change and providing periodic organizational evaluations to ensure safe operations in the work environment, effectiveness via outcomes, and efficiency or costs.

Questions of safety

One of the common threads in the CFAI's self-assessment process since its inception in 1997 has been the safety of fire service personnel. There are 10 categories within the accreditation model, and virtually all 10 have a clear and compelling impact on the safety of people in any fire service organization.

In the recently released seventh edition of the CFAI Fire & Emergency Service Self-Assessment Manual, the “Research and Information Collection Guide” identifies the activities, data and exhibits within various categories to prepare agencies to answer questions in the self-assessment process. This section of the manual also serves as a quick reference point for agency personnel to give them a general idea of how their organization might fare in an actual evaluation of a specific category.

Examples of questions directly related to personnel safety include: Has the agency adopted the NFPA 1500, Fire Department Occupational Safety and Health, or other related standards? Is there a risk management program in place? Is there a method for reviewing workplace accidents and injuries? Is there a functional health and safety committee? Can the agency's management information system provide data on the total number of firefighter injuries over the last five years, the number of injuries by location or activity, the number of particular types of bodily injuries, and the most frequent injury scenarios? Are employees inoculated for communicable diseases as defined by the medical authority? These are just a few of the questions that set the stage for the much more detailed process of working through criteria and performance indicators that make up the 10 categories of the self-assessment process.

In addition to the “Research and Information Collection Guide,” there are many opportunities to enhance and evaluate a department's safety practices through self-assessment, including the “Categories and Criteria” section, which is the heart and soul of the self-assessment process. An appendix in the final section of the manual, “Emergency Vehicle Safety — Best Practice Self Assessment,” even provides a voluntary tool that could enhance an agency's self-assessment of its vehicle and fleet programs.

An agency responding to the requirements of the self-assessment process would formulate a description, appraisal and plan for each of the more than 240 performance indicators in the document. The description catalogs the agency's current program, the appraisal describes the agency's assessment of the effectiveness of its effort toward that performance indicator, and the plan details what the agency intends to do in the future in terms of enhancement and continuous improvement.

Defining criteria

Examples of the specific emphasis on safety throughout the Self-Assessment Manual start in Category II, Assessment and Planning. Some of the criteria deal with fire risk assessment and response strategies and are intended to ensure that each significant fire risk is categorized and listed to permit future analysis and that the agency has assessed the nature and magnitude of the hazards within its jurisdiction and developed appropriate response coverage strategies. This process also addresses non-fire risks to ensure that the agency has assessed the nature and magnitude of other hazards and risks within its jurisdiction and identified the appropriate strategies, operation methods and resource allocation required to mitigate potential emergencies.

Category V, Programs, identifies the major programs of any department, including fire suppression, fire prevention and life-safety education, public education, fire investigation, technical rescue, hazardous materials, emergency medical services, domestic preparedness planning and response, aviation rescue and firefighting services, marine and shipboard rescue and firefighting services, and other programs as appropriate.

Safety is addressed throughout the evaluation of these programs in a number of ways. In the fire suppression program, for example, staffing, supplies and equipment, current standard operating policy and procedures manual, and the use of a standardized incident command/management system are assessed.

The evaluation of the fire prevention/life-safety program provides an opportunity to reduce the incidence of fire in a given service area and to improve the working environment for firefighters in those fires that do occur. These goals can be accomplished by improving access, solving storage and housekeeping problems, eliminating other hazards such as improper storage of hazardous materials, and ensuring the operation of automatic fire sprinkler and smoke alarm systems.

Both the technical rescue and hazmat programs are evaluated with regard to staffing, apparatus, equipment and supplies, and the use of standard operating procedures to meet the expected level of response.

Performance indicators within all of the above programs would assess staffing, equipment, supplies and materials, standard operating procedures, and periodic appraisal of each program, all in an effort to have the maximum positive impact on firefighter safety.

Category VI, Physical Resources, deals with department facilities, apparatus and vehicles, apparatus maintenance, tools and small equipment, and safety equipment. Performance indicators assess compliance with federal, state and local regulations; appropriateness of fire apparatus; the replacement schedule for apparatus and other tools and equipment; and the apparatus maintenance program and its attention to the safety, health and security aspects of equipment operation and maintenance.

Safety equipment is assessed in terms of its distribution to appropriate personnel, its sufficiency for the functions performed, its replacement being scheduled and purchased, and its maintenance being conducted by qualified personnel who keep appropriate records.

Category VII, Human Resources, has criteria for risk management and personnel safety, in which eight performance indicators further address the core of a departmental safety program. These indicators include having a specific person responsible for the risk management program, a system in place for identifying and evaluating workplace hazards, methods and procedures for correcting unsafe and unhealthy conditions, a training program that addresses occupational health and safety, and the use of near-miss reporting to elevate situational awareness and share lessons learned.

There is also a performance indicator to ensure that a health/fitness program is in place and that a management information system is used to investigate and document accidents, lost-time injuries and legal actions. Following the assessment model and completing a description, appraisal and plan should significantly affect the analysis of any department's overall safety effort.

Category VIII, Training and Competency, assesses the agency's ability to support all of the programs identified in Category V. Training is a huge piece of the firefighter safety puzzle, and addressing it in a comprehensive way through self-assessment and the goals-and-objectives model in the Self-Assessment Manual can go along way toward making the job of emergency service delivery safer.

Category IX, Essential Resources, deals with water supply, communications systems and administrative support services. All three can have a bearing on firefighter safety. Specifically, the communications center is evaluated through performance indicators dealing with adequate equipment, staffing, standard operating procedures, and supervision and management of the communications center.

Category X, External Systems Relationships, deals with agencies that act together as an integrated system. This can include mutual aid and automatic-aid agreements, which can be factors in firefighter safety.

Each of the 10 major categories in the Fire & Emergency Service Self-Assessment Manual is important to today's modern fire agency. All ultimately address the issue of safety of firefighters in some fashion. Every agency should consider and then move forward with a goal of accreditation with the CFAI. It's an evaluation process that will pay dividends and is a comprehensive way to ensure a bright future for your organization.

For more information on the CPSE and CFAI, visit the CPSE Web site at www.publicsafetyexcellence.org.

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Cliff Jones is chief of the Tempe (Ariz.) Fire Department, where he has been a member for more than 35 years. Selected by FIRE CHIEF as the 1997 Career Fire Chief of the Year, Jones has attended the Harvard University Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government and serves as an instructor in the Arizona State University Fire Service Management Program in the areas of leadership, program management and fire service administration. He currently serves on the Center for Public Safety Excellence's board of directors and has an associate's degree in fire science, a bachelor's degree in political science and a master's degree in public administration.