By Rich Marinucci

Two of the most critical elements involved in providing quality service are the political and labor relations enjoyed by an organization. First, you will note that I said quality service. Sometimes I have the opinion that we have accepted average or less because of a variety of reasons. Obviously political support is needed to advance any department. Places that do not have good support—and this means more than a policy board just paying lip service—will not get the resources they need to be at the top of their game. Remember that someone else controls the funding provided to a department. Good funding pays for good service; great funding pays for great service.

I recently attended a seminar presented by my good friend Garry Briese. The title was, “Our Fire Department’s New Motto: Good Enough is Good Enough!” The basic premise is that fire departments have take on so many extra duties from its core mission that there is not adequate time and resources to get great at our jobs. Think about it. Besides fire response, EMS, hazmat, tech rescue, fire prevention, fire investigation, and public safety education, what else have you taken on when asked? Obviously, members of the fire service are very willing to help out and are loathe to say no. I don’t think people purposely or consciously take advantage of that, but when you get to a point where you cannot commit to excellence, something has to give. You become a jack of all trades and a master of none, with an emphasis on master of none.

On the political side of things, those organizations (and I mean in totality) that get the need to be actively engaged politically almost always do better than those that don’t. I am not necessarily advocating that we start putting signs in our yards and backing candidates. The real base of political power is relationships—with everyone from the highest elected official in the community to the citizenry. It will include the movers and shakers, business leaders, and even those involved with youth sports. Friends are more likely to support friends. Those on the outside get the leftovers.

Another bone of contention is that we don’t take advantage of some of the things at our disposal. There are plenty of studies that prove the benefit of adequate staffing, the effects of the job on cancer rates, the need to promote the health and wellness of our employees, and the simple fact that happy, contented employees do better. Yet, I hear so called leaders arguing against the merits of NFPA standards like 1710 and 1500. I never hear those same people take a position that they don’t agree with the apparatus or protective clothing standards. They say NFPA 1710 and NFPA 1500 cost too much. But, they don’t say that NFPA 1901 adds too much to the cost of apparatus. They say that their people are their most valuable resource but they only comply totally with the standards applicable to inanimate objects. Go figure.

Another aspect of working toward improved service is through good labor relations. While most would view this as between management and a formal labor organization, it should be viewed as taking care of employees within the reasonable confines of available resources. And, reasonable resources do not mean that the policy making body said to take it or leave it. The budgets should be established based upon need and desired levels of service. Any organization, regardless of the line of work, will only thrive if the people delivering the service are content. Once they are rewarded with the basics, they are looking for a voice in the operations, caring supervisors, and honest support. It doesn’t sound too complicated but there are not

Pierce Manufacturing today introduced the expansion of its Command Zone™ advanced electronics architecture with the unveiling of CZConnect™, a fully-integrated telematics system featuring a free, customized vehicle readiness report containing vehicle performance data and maintenance interval information.

APPLETON, WI—Pierce Manufacturing Inc., an Oshkosh Corporation has expanded its Command Zone™ advanced electronics architecture with CZConnect™, a fully integrated telematics system on display at FDIC International. CZConnect joins the existing CZControl and CZDiagnostics branches of the Command Zone system as the first fully integrated WiFi-based telematics solution available in the fire industry. With CZConnect integration, a free customized vehicle readiness report containing vehicle performance data and maintenance interval information is emailed to up to five addresses chosen by the customer.

“CZConnect provides the opportunity to give fire departments access to data that can improve their performance, while at the same time, allowing Pierce to build-out long-term value propositions such as predictive maintenance and total cost of ownership,” said Jason Anibas, senior chief engineer, Pierce Manufacturing. “We’re proud to be the first in the fire industry to offer a fully-integrated telematics solution and look forward to incorporating customer feedback in the expansion of the system’s analytic capability.”

The on-board telematics control unit (TCU) continually monitors the engine, transmission, brake systems, fluid levels, system voltage, operating hours, vehicle location, and status of Command Zone I/O while the apparatus is performing its daily activities. Apparatus and GPS data is pushed from the vehicle each time it auto connects to a known WiFi network. Data analytics is performed, and a customized report is generated and designed to be viewed on mobile devices. A vehicle readiness report can also be requested at any time from the vehicle display.

Activating the customized vehicle readiness report is as simple as navigating to the Report Menu on the vehicle display, entering up to five e-mail addresses, and connecting to a minimum of one of a possible ten WiFi networks. The customer can modify e-mail addresses and WiFi networks at anytime.

“Our goal was to make the vehicle readiness report simple and intuitive, while still adding value,” said Anibas. “Each of the report category headers provide a visual indication if there is an action item contained within. Each category can be expanded or compressed to reveal the amount of information desired by the customer.”

The CZConnect fully-integrated telematics system and vehicle readiness report is available on any Pierce fire truck equipped with the Command Zone Advanced Electronics System. For a comprehensive review of CZConnect, visit www.piercemfg.com for system highlights, video and images.

Photo caption: 
 

PSTrax, a technology service that helps fire departments across the country automate their apparatus, equipment and inventory checks, has rolled out a new program that provides total trackability and auditing of fire department drug supplies.

Early adopter fire departments are discovering the benefits of the program’s flexibility to “structure customization” fully to their tracking, chain of custody, auditing and reporting needs without investing extensive upfront time and resources.

Based on department requirements, PSTrax does all the setup of a complete reporting and tracking system accessible from any smartphone, desktop, tablet, laptop, and Toughbook.

Increased concerns about narcotics, consequent chain-of-custody pressure from the DEA and other government agencies, and paper-based tracking protocols that leave a lot of room for error drove development of the new program. In addition, when agencies such as the DEA come calling, they want immediate and comprehensive reports, an often-difficult challenge for paper systems.

Not only will this system provide a highly sophisticated and reliable chain-of-custody overview, it provides those in charge easy ability to see a daily report about everything from discrepancies to restocking issues. Given their responsibility for irregularities of any kind around drugs, command personnel want to run an extremely tight ship in this area.

“Automating, maintaining, and updating drug inventories without a hiccup are musts for today’s fire service, which is administering these drugs with ever-increasing frequency. This also can help EMS, private ambulance services, prisons and other organizations responsible for stocking and rapid replacement of heavy-duty drugs,” notes PSTrax Principal Scott Bergeron.

He adds that often third-party physicians are involved in fire department paramedic programs. Given that their license is on the line, they too have a huge stake in making sure everything is accounted for and administered properly.

The PSTrax Drug Module program also helps the fire service:

• Efficiently track down missing drugs. Unusual patterns or occurrences are much more subject to fast detection because the accountability system is so complete and current;
• Maintain stocks at proper levels. Reporting shows understocking, often due to being on calls, and alerts will let the next shift know what to restock during their arriving check;
• Identify any anomalies, deficiencies or problems, as anything out of whack shows up in red on the log sheet;
• Meet any tracking and reporting demand, such as daily reports requested by the DEA and/or the chain of command;
• Develop a much more robust and secure system around drug accountability and chain of custody—including tightening controls on system access to specifically authorized users.

More: www.pstrx.com

RELATED

PSTrax Provides Tech Trauma-Free Way to Automate Fire Department Maintenance Checks

Check, Maintain, and Document SCBA and PPE

Knowing When Your Fire Apparatus Has a Suspension Problem