The Fire Department Safety Officers Association (FDSOA) and the Center for Firefighter Injury Research & Safety Trends (FIRST) at Drexel University have partnered to help you FOCUS on your safety culture. The Fire Service Organizational Culture of Safety (FOCUS) survey is the first safety culture tool developed specifically for the fire service through the FEMA Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) R&D Program and will provide your fire department with objective data to assess your safety culture. FOCUS is a validated and reliable tool that allows an in-depth look into your department’s safety culture and its effect on job satisfaction/moral, engagement, and burnout in your department. To date the FOCUS survey has been administered in over 400 fire departments.
“…In my heart I believe that we promote a safe culture…, but it was gratifying to see that others in our organization believe this to be true also…I like the fact that I can now put actual numbers to what has previously been a ‘gut feeling’.” – Fire Chief
“We are very appreciative for the insight, and the data gives me a goal to shoot for and a way to measure it. Some of the info I had a gut feeling about, but others were completely a surprise.” – Fire Chief
Through the AFG FP&S Program, FIRST is now enrolling up to 1,000 fire departments -- career and volunteer -- interested in administering the FOCUS survey on a first-come, first-served basis at no cost.
Participating departments will receive:
- Customized data showing your safety culture at department and station levels
- A comparative analysis of your safety culture to similar participating departments
- Objective evidence to inform safety related policy decisions
- Eligibility to send two members to FOCUS Culture Camp: a two-day intensive training on safety culture, the FOCUS survey, and how to interpret your results
Interested in learning more about administering FOCUS in your department?
Visit the FIRST Center: http://www.drexel.edu/dornsife/FIRST/our-projects/FOCUS
or FDSOA’s Website: https://www.fdsoa.org/
Taking Fire Service Safety Culture Science to the Streets: FOCUS 2.0
New Tool Helps Fire Departments FOCUS on a Safer Culture
Fire Departments Can Use FOCUS Survey to Examine Organizational Culture