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 Fire
Fighters Denied On-Duty Death Benefits
More than
three years after the enactment of a law granting federal
benefits to families of fire fighters, police officers, and
EMT's who die of heart attacks and strokes on the job, not
a dollar has been paid. The U.S. Justice Department has denied
all 34 claims that have been decided, and has yet to act on
more than 200 others.
The Hometown
Heroes Act of 2003 stated that heart attacks and strokes on
the job should be presumed to be line-of-duty deaths, making
survivors eligible for federal benefits. A spokeswoman for
the Department of Justice said the delays are caused by the
complexity of the cases, not by any disagreement with the
intent of the law.
The denials
come to light as a new study published in the New England
Journal of Medicine found that fire fighters are at much higher
risk of heart attacks when fighting fires or responding to
alarms. They face up to 100 times their normal risk of heart
attack while working at a fire.
At least
some of the denials were based on the Justice Department judgment
that some of the duties the fire fighters were performing
at the time of their deaths did not meet the law's requirement
of "non-routine strenuous activity." Examples are
a fire fighter who returned home after carrying fire hose
at a training session who collapsed and died that afternoon,
and a fire chief that died at home after directing traffic
for more than an hour at a major intersection in the Texas
heat.
The Justice
Department rules for the program say that the program requires
the fire fighter to be involved in a situation that would:
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Pose,
or appear to pose, "significant dangers, threats
or hazards (or reasonable
foreseeable risks thereof), not faced by similarly situated
members of the public
in the ordinary course, and; |
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"provoke,
cause, or occasion an unusually high level of alarm, fear,
or anxiety. |
The Harvard
study of 449 heart attack deaths among fire fighters nationwide
found that 32 percent died when they were involved in fire
suppression or other activity at a fire. But less stressful
duties were associated with higher than expected risk of heart
attack as well: 13 percent occurred while responding to an
alarm; 17 percent in returning from an alarm; 13 percent in
physical training; 9 percent in emergency medical services
and other non-fire emergencies; and 15 percent in a fire station
or while performing non-emergency duties.
Flashpoint
Summer/Fall 2007
NIOSH
Recommendations in the Wake of Junior Volunteer
Firefighter Death
 A
tragic accident, which claimed the life of a 17-year-old female
volunteer junior firefighter after the tanker truck she was
riding in went off a narrow one-lane bridge in Alabama has
resulted in a number of recommendations by NIOSH investigators:
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Ensure
that fire fighters are always seated in an approved riding
position any time the fire apparatus is in motion |
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Ensure
that all fire apparatus are equipped with seat belts and
that fire fighters always wear seatbelts |
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Ensure
that tankers are operated at a safe and reasonable speed |
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Provide
initial and refresher training (at least twice annually)
to driver/operators as often as necessary for the safe
operation of fire tankers |
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Develop
and enforce written policies, procedures, and/or guidelines
that identify the permissible and non-permissible tasks
and activities of junior fire fighters |
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Establish
an effective preventive maintenance program for all fire
apparatus |
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Establish
and develop written standard operating procedures for
all fire fighting operations |
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Avoid
using former fuel trucks as water tankers, if at all possible |
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Consider
developing a State-endorsed junior fire fighter program
that addresses the tasks that minors are permitted to
perform in the fire service |
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Consider
requiring vehicle safety inspections for fire apparatus |
The tanker
was enroute to a structure fire and failed to negotiate a
sharp curve at the approach to the bridge. The tanker crashed
through the bridge's guardrail and landed upside down below
the bridge. The driver and two other fire fighters riding
in the tanker were injured in the incident. The victim was
extricated by emergency personnel and pronounced dead at the
scene.
Source:
NIOSH Newsletter April 11, 2007
Flashpoint
Summer/Fall 2007
Troy Michigan
Based Developer Working on Incident Command
Computer Tracking
A researcher affiliated with the Troy Michigan
based Empco, Inc. has recently put into service a prototype
of a computer based tracking system for use by Fire Departments
using the Incident Command system at emergency scenes. A major
Oakland County Fire Department, which is field testing the
system, tracks the whereabouts of firefighters at work on
the fireground, as well as those during search and rescue
operations, making it much easier to account for them. It
not only is an accountability system, but it also stores building
plans and information on hazardous items that may be stored
in commercial buildings. The hope is that one day the system
will also be available to police departments for dangerous
operations such as hostage rescues, surveillance and narcotics
operations, and high-risk search warrant and arrest scenarios.
Flashpoint
Spring 2006
Guidelines
can help communities prepare for terrorism
As the
Homeland Security Office builds a national plan to protect
the American public from terrorism, here are some ideas that
you can pass along to businesses, agriculture and infrastructure
organizations in your community to help them take steps now
to prepare for terrorism and other disasters.
Any organization
or business can become more secure by implementing measures
on this list.
First,
do the Hazard Assessment, at least a draft of an organizational
emergency plan and a determination of what equipment and facilities
will be used in emergencies. These products
will
guide your deliberations on what training is needed by your
personnel
e-mail - http://riskcenter.doe.gov/whatisrisk/index.cfm.
Encourage
employees to enroll in FEMA and other emergency management
courses
http://www.fema.gov/emi/index.htm.
Determine
what elements of your situation are unique and/or not covered
in the already available courses.
Conduct
the Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT) Course
at your site (see the CERT material listed on the emergency
management courses page at http://www.fema.gov/emi/index.htm).
Key
steps/considerations include:
1.
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Discuss
an overview of the hazards that may threaten your facility.
Neighboring businesses should also be considered in case
a disaster spreads from your facility to theirs or from
their facility to yours. |
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Protective
action decisions for each hazard and the method of implementing
these decisions - to include assembly points and in-place
protection procedures. |
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Alert
and notification procedures - to include the meaning of
various warning signals, fan out charts, and mobilization
procedures. |
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Concept
of operations to include: |
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Organization
structure |
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assignment
of responsibilities |
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how
to deal with specific emergencies |
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what
to report and to whom |
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sequence
of "first response" actions, such as what to
do in case of fire - sound alarm, use an extinguisher,
leave the vicinity, etc. |
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Identification,
location and use of emergency equipment such as showers,
eyewashes, portable fire extinguisher, and respirators.
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Shutdown
routines and emergency shutdown procedures. |
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Demonstrations
of emergency equipment with hands-on experience - how
to use and how not to use eyewashes, safety masks (for
example, check filter inserts before using), portable
extinguishers, etc. |
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If
your organization has limited or no medical capability,
encourage your employees, especially those with emergency
response assignments, to take courses in emergency health
care and first-aid. Many hospitals, volunteer ambulance
corps, the American Red Cross, and various community organizations
teach first-aid skills. |
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Conduct
sessions at least annually or when: |
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Employees
are hired |
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Evacuation
wardens, shelter managers and others with special assignments
are designated |
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New
equipment, materials or procedures are introduced |
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Procedures
are updated or revised |
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Exercises
show that employee performance must be improved |
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In
the process of planning and developing the emergency plan,
you have identified the
hazards and the actions that need to be taken during an
emergency. Cross-check the
hazard assessment and written procedures with your course
of instruction to make
certain nothing has been overlooked. |
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The
general training should be provided on a recurring basis
and should cover all
possible circumstances that may affect life safety as
well as the aspects critical
to property and production protection. |
Design
your training so that: 1). every employee will react automatically
in an emergency;
and 2). all employees assigned emergency response tasks know
their responsibilities and
have the skills to do the job.
Personnel
should also have a thorough understanding of the entire emergency
plan and how they fit into it. To accomplish this, the training
program should integrate each segment of training with the
overall plan.
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