Chapter 16 Flashcards
Each fire and emergency services organization should operate within the parameters of a risk management plan.
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The organization’s chief executive officer is responsible for developing the organizational risk management plan.
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NFPA 551, guide for the evaluation of fire risk assessments.
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NFPA 1250, recommended practice in fire and emergency service organization risk management.
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NFPA 1500, standard on fire department occupational safety and health program
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NFPA 1521, standard for fire dept. safety officer
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NFPA 1600, standard on continuity, emergency, and crisis management
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The CO is responsible for the safety of all personnel assigned to the unit or under the officer’s command at an emergency incident.
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The officer uses risk management to determine the appropriate responses to the health, safety, and wellness risks that the unit faces.
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Identified risks should be evaluated in terms of frequency and severity.
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OSHA refers to frequency as incident rate.
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If a particular injury or accident occurs repeatedly, it will likely continue to occur until a job hazard or a task analysis identifies the root cause, and the organization implements effective control measures.
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The root cause is the most basic reason an accident occurs, and the source or origin of the accident.
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The results of the frequency and severity assessments help establish priorities for determining action.
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Any risk that has both a high probability of occurrence and serious consequences deserves immediate action and should be considered a high priority item.
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After the risks have been prioritized, it is time to apply risk control measures.
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Risk avoidance - avoiding the activity that creates risk
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Risk transfer - physically transferring the risk to someone else or purchase insurance.
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Control measures - Implementing effective control measures is the most common method used for risk management.
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While control measures will not eliminate the risk, they can reduce the likelihood of personnel injury or mitigate the severity.
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Monitoring ensures a dynamic risk management system and facilitates periodic reviews of the program.
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Implementing the risk management plan requires communication, training, and application.
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When applying evaluation techniques, the CO or HSO compares the plan’s desired results to its actual results.
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CO’s should compare the cost and benefits of implementing risk reduction strategies.
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The risk management plan should include procedures for making revisions.
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Accidents are unplanned, uncontrolled but, usually, avoidable events resulting from unsafe acts and or unsafe conditions.
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To reduce the potential for accidents or to reduce their severity, each organization must implement an accident investigation policy and procedure.
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The HSO and the organization’s safety and health committee will have the ultimate authority for accident analysis.
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The CO will have the responsibility for doing the initial accident investigation based on the procedure.
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When an accident occurs, an investigation is conducted to determine its root cause.
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Accident investigations should be objective, impartial, and directed toward fact finding, not fault finding.
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When conducting a workplace accident investigation, the CO should interview all participants and witnesses and document all relevant factors.
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For a comprehensive investigation, the CO should understand the impact of training, education, and experience on reducing the occurrence of accidents.
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Workers who fail to control the factors leading to an accident because of mental, psychological, or physical reasons will likely be involved in accidents more often than other workers.
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Human factors are an individual’s attributes or personal characteristics that cause the individual to be involved in more or fewer accidents than other people.
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Often, an organization can mitigate negative human factors through motivation, training, or technical revision.
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Human factors that often contribute to accidents have been classified into three broad categories.
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Three human factors contribute to accidents: improper attitude, lack of knowledge or skill, physically unsuited
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When it is likely that an exposure will not produce symptoms of an occupational illness, it may be more appropriate to enroll the employee in a medical surveillance program to document any health changes that may be related to the exposure.
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When investigating injuries, illnesses, and exposure incidents, ask the same type of questions you would use to gather information at an accident scene.
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Accident analysis determines how these factors combined to create one cause and what can be learned from the incident.
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Making changes in an emergency responder’s personal behavior or changing the organizations culture will require conscious effort on the part of the administration and membership of the organization.
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In the area of safety, company officers have a responsibility to take action.
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After completing the analysis and determining the root cause of the accident, injury, job related illness, or health exposure, the officer should identify a solution to resolve the problem.
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Statistics verify that cardiac arrest and strokes cause most fire and emergency responder fatalities.
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NFPA 1021 does not mention fatalities, other than as part of the accident investigation.
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Glean useful information from the report to determine the root cause, not to find fault or affix blame.
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