FIRE 1120 - Principles of Fire & Emergency Services Safety & Survival

Credit Hours: 3.00

Objectives:

1. Define culture as it applies to the safety and survival behavior of firefighters.
2. Discuss the attitudes and behaviors that contribute to an unsafe culture within the fire and emergency services.
3. Describe the elements that impact cultural change within the fire and emergency services.
4. Describe the importance of changing culture when cultural elements inhibit improved safety.

Outcome 2: Upon completion of this course, students will be able to explain the need for enhancements of personal and organizational accountability for health and safety.

Objectives:

1. Outline the roles and responsibilities that individuals and departments have to ensure safety.
2. Discuss traditions that have compromised fire and emergency services safety and the role that the individual plays in eliminating the unsafe and promoting the safe traditions.
3. Identify that learning the causes of line-of-duty deaths (LODDs) and injuries is part of the education, training, and experience needed to be safe while operating on the emergency scene.
4. Describe changes that need to occur in order to reduce firefighter LODDs and injuries

Outcome 3: Upon completion of this course, students will be able to evaluate how the concepts of risk management affect strategic and tactical decision- making.

Objectives:

1. Identify the three principles of risk management
2. Describe the risk management process.
3. Explain the need for a continual evaluation process.
4. Discuss the keys for implementing a successful risk management program.

Outcome 4: Upon completion of this course, students will be able to  evaluate circumstances that might constitute an unsafe act.

Objectives:

1. Describe the circumstances that constitute an unsafe practice.
2. Explain the concept of empowerment as a way to stop unsafe practices.
3. Compare and contrast the concepts of “challenge and confirm” and “speak up.”
4. Identify the three-step process of implementing crew resource management (CRM).
5. Describe the factors that determine an individual’s ability to develop and utilize situational awareness.

Outcome 5: Upon completion of this course, students will be able to validate the need for national training standards as they correlate to professional development inclusive of qualifications, certifications, and re-certifications.

Objectives:

1. Describe the importance of training and education in fire and emergency services safety and survival.
2. Identify the similarities and differences between credentialing, certification, licensure, professional recognition/designation, and accreditation as they relate to the fire and emergency services.

Outcome 6: Upon completion of this course, students will be able to defend the need for annual medical evaluations and the establishment of physical fitness criteria for emergency services personnel throughout their careers.

Objectives:

1. Identify the role of health and fitness in the fire and emergency services.
2. Explain the need to commit fully to firefighter health and fitness.
3. Discuss the need for a comprehensive wellness program for every fire department.

Outcome 7: Upon completion of this course, students will be able to explain the vital role of local departments in national research and data collection systems.

Objectives:

1. Describe the history of the fire and emergency services safety problem.
2. Identify institutional factors that make fire and emergency services research difficult.
3. Describe the importance of historical research to current levels of firefighter safety.
4. Outline the most common causes of fire and emergency services fatalities, and the systems and definitions used to track them.
5. Explain the role of research and data in improving firefighter safety.
6. Identify the sources and uses of national data on firefighter safety.
7. Identify fire and emergency services, academic partnerships, and collaborations, as well as their funding sources.

Outcome 8: Upon completion of this course, students will be able to illustrate how technological advancements can produce higher levels of emergency services safety and survival.

Objectives:

1. Discuss the cultural roadblocks that delay or prevent a fire and emergency services department from embracing new technology.
2. Recommend current emerging technological equipment that can help make the fire and emergency services safer.
3. Identify computerized technology that can make the fire and emergency services safer.

Outcome 9: Upon completion of this course, students will be able to explain the importance of investigating all near-misses, injuries, and fatalities.

Objectives:

1. Describe how the lessons learned from a fatality and injury investigation must be communicated to prevent future incidents of a similar nature.
2. List the basic functions commonly performed in an effective fatality and injury investigation.
3. Identify the makeup of an investigative team.
4. Explain the need for effective documentation of a scene.

Outcome 10: Upon completion of this course, students will be able to describe how obtaining grants can support safety and survival initiatives.

Objectives:

1. Describe the brief history of fire department grants.
2. Identify grant team needs and common success traits and downfalls in grant applications
3. Perform an internal needs, external needs, and financial assessment.
4. Research support information for creating proper structure of narrative for grant applications.

Outcome 11: Upon completion of this course, students will be able to explain how adopting standardized policies for responding to emergency scenes can minimize near-misses, injuries, and deaths.

Objectives:

1. Discuss the percentage of line-of-duty deaths (LODDs) attributed to emergency vehicle crashes.
2. Name best practices relative to emergency response vehicle safety.
3. Explain the value of policy statements, standard operating procedures/guides (SOPs/SOGs).
4. List the reasons why one should always be seated and seat belted whenever an emergency vehicle is in motion.
5. Identify the criticality of responding to a violent incident or one that could turn violent.
6. Identify innovations that can make driving an emergency vehicle safer.

Outcome 12: Upon completion of this course, students will be able to explain the need for counseling and psychological support for emergency services personnel and their families, while identifying access to local resources and services.

Objectives:

1. Identify at least three potentially traumatic events experienced by firefighters.
2. Distinguish among stress, strain, and resilience.
3. Describe essential components of a fire and emergency services member assistance program and the Trauma Screening Questionnaire.
4. Apply the concept of knowledge translation to counseling and psychological support in the fire and emergency services.
5. Distinguish between the principles of critical incident stress management and those of psychological first aid.

1. History of Fire Service Culture
2. Organizational Culture
3. Individual Role in Culture/Behavior
4. History of Line of Duty Deaths and Injuries Statistics
5. Defining the Nature of the Problem

II. The National Context, Health and Safety

1. NFPA, OSHA
2. Medical and Fitness Standards
3. Data Collection (NFIRS)
4. Research/Investigation (NIST, NIOSH)

III. Training, Equipment, Response

1. Training, Certification, Credentialing
2. Apparatus and Equipment
3. Emergency Response - Response to Emergency Scenes
4. Violent Incidents
5. Emerging Technologies

IV. Organizational Health and Safety Profile

1. Personal and Organizational Accountability
2. Present Condition/Culture
3. Investigations - Internal
4. Analyzing your Profile
5. Utilizing Grants to Meet Needs

V. Risk Management

1. Risk Management Concepts and Practices
2. Unsafe Acts
3. Empowerment Definition

VI. Prevention

1. Home Fire Sprinklers
2. Code Enforcement
3. Public Education/Fire and Life Safety
4. Counseling and Psychological Support