In this series, Fire Engineering Senior Editor Mary Jane Dittmar looks at the things that motivated and inspired instructors to present on their topics at FDIC International 2016. Segments will be posted on a regular basis up to and through the conference, April 18-23.

Shawn Pruchnicki

Faculty, Ohio State University

Using Human Error as a Tool to Build a Safety Culture

Tuesday, April 19, 1:30 p.m.-5:30 p.m.

My primary motivation is that my working across many domains will enable me to help students to better understand human error, thus resulting in better investigations and recommendations after an incident. As a former paramedic/firefighter, airline pilot, and practicing emergency medicine pharmacist (toxicology), I have seen the devastating results and lost opportunities and leverage for change that poorly performed post-incident investigations can cause. They only serve to place blame on the humans involved and have no consideration for the normal nature of normal work and how the complexity of systems can result in large surprising outcomes that greatly exceed the “errors” that were made.

If we are going to produce meaningful recommendations, we must craft meaningful investigations that are sensitive to the normal nature of work. No one comes to work to die, and the choices they make are based on far less information than what we have in hindsight during an incident investigation. Their choices should be viewed on what they actually knew during the operation, not on what is known in hindsight.

The most optimal effect I hope this workshop will achieve is that the fire service will follow the lead of other safety-sensitive domains, such as aviation, that have carved a path through the darkness and are willing to explore new methods in understanding why sometimes it all goes wrong. This is the first time this course is offered at FDIC. 

In this series, Fire Engineering Senior Editor Mary Jane Dittmar looks at the things that motivated and inspired instructors to present on their topics at FDIC International 2016. Segments will be posted on a regular basis up to and through the conference, April 18-23.

Ron Kanterman

Chief

Wilton (CT) Fire Department

Safety Leadership

Tuesday, April 19, 8 a.m.-12 p.m.

Being a leadership and safety advocate, author, and lecturer for more than 20 years, I thought it appropriate to combine the two. The class is geared toward the responsibilities of company officers, but incident safety officers, health and safety officers as well as other "fire bosses" can learn from this experience. If I had to put my finger on what motivates me to teach such a class, it would be my 18 years with the National Fallen Firefighter's Foundation (NFFF). I teach this class to give the students the tools they need to do anything in their power to get in between their firefighters and an injury or worse.  

This year, I will be the deputy incident commander for the NFFF Memorial weekend. In addition, I've been active with the LAST and Everyone Goes Home programs for more than 10 years. I've seen the grief, the tears, and the anguish on the faces of the families and the firefighters who are left to pick up the pieces after a line-of-duty death.    

I have gotten mixed feedback from my students. I attribute this to the fact that the masses are never ready for change. Moving the fire service toward a safer working process requires change, and lots of it. They leave class excited with a handful of tools, programs, and the right attitude--until they get back home and lay it all on the desk of the chief or some other boss. For those fire departments that are progressive and current, the safety firefighters easily get through. For the old-school departments, it’s a lot harder to do safety leadership. There are hard lessons to learn: We don't wear masks at most fires and never during overhaul. There's a rampant cancer rate in those departments. The old-school tough guys are dying because they are/were old-school tough guys. This is about being smart. We have the technology, the tools, and the equipment to work safer and stay healthier than ever before. Now, we need the leadership to make it happen. Those who have hit the wall on returning home have called me and asked about how to get it done. I tell them to go through the wall, around it, over it, or knock it down. It's daunting, but someone has to do it. I look forward to reading in a fire service history book someday soon about how the Everyone Goes Home program and the Firefighter Cancer Support Network were instrumental in helping to lick the current health problems that plague today’s American fire service. It's up to all of us.

In this series, Fire Engineering Senior Editor Mary Jane Dittmar looks at the things that motivated and inspired instructors to present on their topics at FDIC International 2016. Segments will be posted on a regular basis up to and through the conference, April 18-23.

Thomas A. Merrill

Past Chief

Snyder (NY) Fire Department

The Professional Volunteer Fire Department

Tuesday, April 19, 8 a.m.-12 p.m. 

Often in discussions with the general public, people would say something like, “Oh, you’re a firefighter. Are you a professional or just a volunteer?”  I would take exception to that and politely explain that there are paid firefighters and there are volunteer firefighters, but all firefighters, including volunteers, can strive to be professional. In fact, when I consult the dictionary, I see various definitions for the word ‘professional,’ including ‘characterized by or conforming to the technical or ethical standards of a profession’ and ‘exhibiting a courteous, conscientious, and generally businesslike manner in the workplace.’ I would explain that these definitions can apply to paid firefighters as well as volunteer firefighters. 

However, it takes than pinning on a badge or a title to make a firefighter professional. It takes attitude, commitment, and dedication. It has to do with how members approach the job, how they prepare and train and take care of their equipment. It includes how they treat the public and their members. It also has to do with behavior on and off duty. All of this plays into the equation of the professional firefighter, and volunteers certainly can meet these criteria as well as paid firefighters. I wanted to get the word out that volunteer firefighters certainly can be professional firefighters and to ensure that they are aware of their duty and responsibility to uphold that reputation (and what it entails). It is not an automatic designation. (By the way, this applies to all firefighters.) 

Participants are provided with a set of building blocks they can take back to their department to help build the foundation of a professional operation. The building blocks cover various aspects of volunteer operations from the better known aspects like emergency response, operations, and training to the less talked about side of volunteer firefighter life like social activities, behavior (on and off duty), dressing appropriately, and public interaction. I have talked to administrative officers, fire officers, and rank-and-file firefighters. They all have said there is something each branch of our volunteer fire service can take back to their department. We all share in the responsibility of establishing and maintaining a professional reputation. No matter what our title, it should equate to "Professional Firefighter." 

In this series, Fire Engineering Senior Editor Mary Jane Dittmar looks at the things that motivated and inspired instructors to present on their topics at FDIC International 2016. Segments will be posted on a regular basis up to and through the conference, April 18-23.

Rudy Horist

Deputy Chief

McHenry Township (IL) Fire Protection District

Building the Ladder: Officer Development Programs

Tuesday, April 19, 1:30 p.m.-5:30 p.m.

For several years, I have had the opportunity to travel around the state of Illinois while teaching for our state instructor association. I found one of the biggest challenges for fire departments, whether large or small, career or volunteer, was developing and implementing an officer development program. This was found to be the case in other states as well. My department was no different. Although there were many examples of how a particular department built its program, there were few examples of how to build one step by step.

I have been involved in developing and presenting officer programs as a member of two departments as part of a regional fire academy and for our state fire instructor association. I also used this topic for two applied research projects while completing the Executive Fire Officer program at the National Fire Academy. My desire is to pass this information and experience on to help other departments to develop their programs by sending them back to their departments with the guidance, ideas, and resources needed to establish an officer development program that meets their departments’ needs.

I find it rewarding and humbling that students have followed up after the workshop to say that the information helped them to start or improve their program, whether the department is small or large, career or volunteer.