NIOSH Reports – Do We Learn from Them? Do We Make Changes?
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By NYSAFC Executive Director Jerry DeLuca
Some of the most important documents every commissioner, chief, officer, and firefighter should read and learn from are National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) reports on firefighter fatalities. These reports document the circumstances and issues that led to a line of duty death (LODD). The reports are usually released about 12-18 months after an incident. They provide a great deal of information on the contributing factors that led to the line of duty death and make key recommendations on what a department can do to prevent a future incident.
A NIOSH report that was recently released and is of great interest to many in New York state is Report No. F2015-20, which addresses the line of duty death of a 19-year-old volunteer firefighter in Ulster County. One of the items listed early on in the report is a reference to the New York State Office of Fire Prevention and Control "Recommended Best Practices for Fire Department Training Programs" document that sets a standard by which firefighter and officer training will be measured. The statement reads:
"In 2015, the New York State (NYS) Office of Fire Prevention and Control (OFPC), with input from the New York Department of Labor (NY-DOL), Public Employees Safety and Health Bureau (PESH), and fire service organizations within the state of New York developed a recommended set of ‘Best Practices for Fire Department Training Programs.’ The purpose of the ‘Best Practices’ is to assist fire departments in complying with OSHA CFR 1910.156(c)(1)."
Is your department adhering to these best practices? While not a state mandate, they are clearly a standard that you will be held to in the case of a line of duty death or injury.
Among the issues mentioned in the list of key recommendations was:
"Standard setting organizations, enforcement agencies, and authorities having jurisdiction should consider developing, implementing, and enforcing national fire fighter and fire officer training standards and requirements."
There is a challenge in this report to ensure that the fire service in New York state is providing the training necessary and appropriate to ensure the safety of those that serve next to and under us. Is your department meeting that challenge?
