Over the next several posts, well 16 to be exact, I am going to be discussing the 16 life safety initiatives for the fire service. The initiatives were put together by the National Fallen Firefighter Foundation's Everyone Goes Home Program. Information on the 16 initiatives can be found at www.lifesafteyinitiatives.com. The Everyone Goes Home Program was developed to help prevent line of duty deaths and injuries within the fire service. The 16 life safety initiatives were developed in 2004 and are intended to be the foundation for helping to reduce line of duty deaths. The 16 initiatives are somewhat broad in nature but they are meant to be a starting point. Each initiative gives a starting point for departments. They are meant to get firefighters thinking and to expand upon them. The fact that they are more vague allows each individual and each fire department to mold the initiatives to meet the needs of their department. They are not a magic wand that can be waved to magically make these injuries and deaths go away but they are a foundation.
The first of the 16 life safety initiatives is cultural change. Wow, that is a big one. I don't think that it is a by coincidence or chance that this is the first initiative. If your department has an unsafe culture or a culture resistant to change then none of the other 15 initiatives will be successful no matter how hard you work to implement them. We all know the fire service can be resistive to change. We are a culture with very deep roots and great pride. Our history predates that of our government. As you can imagine, with that much history and tradition it can be very difficult to affect change in the fire service. I think there are some departments that wold fight fire without SCBA's or still wear 3/4 coats and roll-up boots if you would let them. A common statement heard in a fire department is "that's the way we have always done it." I love the history and tradition of the fire service but lets not be naive. The fires we fight are not the same as the fires of old. The world has changed and technology has evolved so we too must evolve. We no long use steam engines pulled by a horse. Why? Because there is better technology available to us now. Equipment has evolved so we evolved with it. We must continue to evolve so we can keep up with the times.
Cultural change is the process of changing ones culture. Pretty simple right? Wrong. Not only is the fire service made up of individuals from a very diverse background but the fire service is quite diverse as well. Fire departments vary from city to city, state to state and region to region. You could take a group of fire departments together from all over the country and it could literally seem like you were at a United Nations gathering. Each department has its own identity and two neighboring departments could have values as different as night in day. I'll even take it a step further... if you a take a department with multiple stations you will see individual personalities and values for each station. Needless to say, cultural change is not as simple as making sweeping changes from one end of the country to the other. Needless to say, each department will need to adapt these initiatives to meet the needs of their department.
So why is it difficult to affect change in the fire service. As I mentioned earlier, the diversity and the history make it difficult to make changes but honestly its not really change that is the issue. If you were bringing in the latest and greatest technology and using do-dads and whatchamacallits with all the cool bells and whistles it probably wouldn't be all that difficult. The biggest resistance typically comes in regards to safety. Are job is dangerous, there is inherent risk in what we do. Many of us are macho. In fact, many people think that they are indestructible!! Why would you think that!?! Just because we put on a navy blue shirt with a Maltese cross does not mean that we are super human. I am pretty sure we bleed just the same as someone who is not a firefighter. I am not saying we need to tip toe through this job in bubble wrap and be afraid of what might happen but come on, lets use some common sense. If you look over the last 20 years the average number of line of duty deaths is around 100. Some times its more, sometimes its less but typically it averages about 100. Over the last 20 years we have also taken some pretty big steps as far as technology. Trucks are safer, turnout gear is lighter and more heat resistive. We have a lot more technology at our disposal that is supposed to make us safer yet we still average around 100 deaths a year. Obviously there is a bigger issue at hand. I think a lot of that is the BS idea that we are invincible.
How do we get our department to change its culture? Cultural change will be easier in some departments than other. Larger departments will take longer to get the change rolling than smaller ones just because of the sheer number of people on that department. It will also depend on how extreme your department's culture is and how willing they are to have the "Courage to be Safe." So how do it then. The biggest key is to be an advocate for change. Lead by example. Promote the new ideas, don't shoot them down. Believe it or not, peer pressure works in this situation. Trust me, firefighters are good at peer pressure. If someone is not conforming to the values or culture of the shift or department, most times the others on that shift or in that department will pressure the non-conformer until they change. Change can and will happen in your department you just have to be patient. You may have to chip away bit by bit but it will happen. Find your allies and get them on board, your strength is in numbers. Hopefully your administration is on board because the chief's backing can be a huge help.
Cultural change will not be easy. It will probably be one of the toughest tasks in making your department safer but you can't give up. If these initiatives are really important to you then you must have the resolve to push forward. It may take months and it may even take years but stay the course and work to promote the safety your department deserves.
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