When most people think of the risks their crew faces, they likely think of burning buildings, violent patients, natural disasters and mass casualty incidents. But what they may not think about are the very real risks you face while you’re driving to each incident and responding to scenes along the roadways. Let’s take a look at the hazards your crew faces and review how your emergency service organization (ESO) can implement policies to help address them.
Newly-released estimates from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) show that 42,915 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes in 2021—which isn’t only a 10.5% increase from 2020, but it also marks a 16-year high in traffic fatalities.
In addition to an overall increase in traffic fatalities, the NHTSA also reports the following categories showed relatively-large incident rate increases from 2020 to 2021:
Further, 2020 data from the National Safety Council (NSC) states that 180 people died in crashes involving emergency vehicles—and of those crashes, 31 ambulances and 17 fire trucks were involved.
These alarming roadway fatality statistics don’t only mean our drivers and passengers need to be more vigilant while operating vehicles—they also mean there are more roadway incidents for our crews to respond to.
This is a startling danger in its own right as the Emergency Responder Safety Institute (ERSI) reports that 65 responders were struck and killed on the roadways in 2021, including nine fire and EMS personnel.
If your current traffic management policies and training neglect to address limiting exposure time, providing advance warning to motorists, creating a buffer zone, positioning blocking apparatus, lighting, establishing a flagger/spotter, operating in a “shadow work zone”, using interagency collaboration and wearing reflective vests—it’s likely time to reevaluate them.
Here are a few resources to help you get started:
One way you can help ensure that your organization has the best possible drivers on the road to combat driving-related risks is to implement a comprehensive driver qualification program that includes SOPs and SOGs for safe vehicle operations, initial qualification standards, prequalifying and ongoing driver training and assessments, and a formal incident and near-miss review process.
Check out these tools to help your ESO build or evaluate your driver training program:
Whether you’re focusing on driver safety, roadway response or another risk entirely—your training and policies won’t get very far if your organization doesn’t have a top-down (and bottom-up) understanding and buy-in of them. That’s why your culture is so important.
"Culture is generally defined as the behaviors, attitudes, values and beliefs that are shared within a group or organization. It reflects the collective perception of right and wrong, good and bad, or desirable and undesirable actions and characteristics,” notes Everyone Goes Home, an initiative by the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation (NFFF).
So, ask yourself, do all of the members in your organization share the same beliefs and values in regards to the very real risks you face—and the role that training and policies have in helping you reduce those risks? And if not, what’s needed to bring a higher level of commitment to safety within your organization? Whether it’s a change in attitude, more education, increased accountability or something else—it’s important to put in the effort to develop a safety culture to help better protect your team.
The risks your team faces are everchanging, but all are very real and potentially dangerous. Putting in the work to address the hazards you face through your SOGs and SOPs, training and culture might be time consuming—but it won’t only help improve your operations but also help ensure “Everyone Goes Home.” We’re in this together.