Fire Service Management
Running a fire and EMS organization: management science, legal issues, risk and customer service.
The Role Industrial/Organizational Psychologists Should have in Fire and EMS Departments
Industrial/organizational psychologists specialize in understanding human behavior within the workplace. They apply psychological principles and research methods to improve various aspects of work environments, including performance, communication, job satisfaction, and safety [1]. Here’s why fire and EMS departments should consider integrating I/O psychologists into their teams.
Is Safety Stand Down 2024 really addressing the basics?
I'm also not sure how these five topics address "back to basics." To my mind, this year's Safety Stand Down should be using the five days to address firefighter safety issues that continue to plague the fire service across the board after decades (e.g., lack of seatbelt use, lack of accountability systems, not wear PPE correctly or appropriately). Building the Foundation of a Training Program; Assessing the Needs of the Community and Department; Safety During Training; Physical and Behavioral/Mental Health Considerations; and the 12 Foundations of Fire Department Training.
Developing Mission, Vision, and Value Statements for Your Fire and EMS Department
Developing and communicating a department's mission, vision, and values are important organizational management tools for any fire and EMS department, especially one that's committed to getting the best performance from its members and delivering the best service to its external stakeholders.
Why vision, mission, and values statements matter more than ever for your fire and EMS department
This post has been simmering in my brain for quite some time and it wasn’t until I read Andrew Holter’s…
Retired Battalion Chief–And now published author!
If you’ve come upon this book expecting to read about emergency calls, I responded to during my 26-year career with the Chesterfield (Va.) Fire and EMS Department, I'm afraid you might be a tad disappointed. But if you want to learn about the greatest single assignment that I had the pleasure and satisfaction of serving in during my career, you have the right book. Because in this book you'll learn about how a single project that I was a part of that created not one, but two transformational changes in our fire and EMS department.
Protect Your Firefighters from Exposure to Toxins While Training
Battalion Chief (Ret.) Robert Avsec answers a reader's question about how to reduce exposure to cancer risk during live fire training.
Gordon Graham: The “Go to Guy” for Understanding Risk Management in Public Safety
I first heard Gordon Graham speak about risk management in the realm of public safety many years ago when he was the keynote speaker at the Mid-Winter Conference of the Virginia Fire Chiefs Association. From that moment I became a true believer in one of Graham’s core tenets “Predictable is preventable,” along with his concept of evaluating risk in public safety by asking two key questions. What’s the level of risk for an activity or operation? What’s the frequency for that risk?
Creating an Atmosphere that Supports Motivation in Your Organization
We can provide a sound organizational structure with policies and procedures that are congruent with an organization’s vision, mission, and values. And we can attempt to modify undesirable individual behavior, when necessary, using progressive discipline. But I don’t think that we can make anyone do something that they don’t want to do.
Why 3 is Better than 2 on an EMS Call
It was a hot and humid August evening in 1979, and I was a new EMT working my first job…
What Does Integrity Mean to You?
But over the course of my career (both of them) I've embraced this definition of integrity “Keeping your promises.” As in when you get married you promise many things (love, honor, cherish, etc.) and above all to be faithful to your spouse.
Why isn’t every week safety week in Fire and EMS?
How many of our leaders are taking the information from NIOSH Firefighter Fatality Reports and using that information to take a good, hard and objective look at their organization and asking the tough question, "What are we doing to prevent this from happening here?
Wanna know what the cost of bullying is in a fire department?
The short answer is: Human capital. I received the following message from a colleague who was a fire chief until…