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Morning Lineup – June 23

6 comments

A goodly 35 years ago my department instituted a firm policy requiring all trucks and ambulances, etc., to have a spotter behind the vehicle whenever it is backing up.  We even had an official set of hand signals for the spotter to use along with mandating that he always be visible in the driver’s side-view mirror.  And when I say it was a “firm” policy, it was strictly enforced and it didn’t matter if you were only going to back up three feet.  Or where you were, in the engine bay, on the ramp or out on the streets somewhere. You … always … have … a … spotter.  And it quickly became part of the culture, always practiced faithfully.  And failure to follow it resulted in certain disciplinary action.

This policy came to mind twice recently when I read about two civilians being killed by fire/rescue vehicles backing up.  Most recently, we reported on Sunday (HERE) about an ambulance in St. Paul, Minnesota, that was backing down an alleyway Saturday afternoon when an elderly lady stepped into its path and was fatally run over.  While the news reports didn’t say so, it is evident that this driver was unassisted as he was backing up.

Just over one month ago, on May 22, a pickup truck / brush unit was backing into the station in Webster, Massachusetts, when it struck and killed a man who was walking across the ramp.

These are both tragic beyond description.  And I would say that they were probably preventable, too.  A backing accident is a preventable accident.  And so easy to prevent, too.

Does your department/squad have a “spotter” policy?  If not, why not?  I can think of no good reason to not follow this practice.  In fact, I just gave you two good reasons why you NEED a spotter policy.  If you don’t have an enforceable rule mandating a spotter, at least YOU can begin doing it on your own.  We’re always talking “firefighter safety.”  Why aren’t we doing everything we can to practice it?  Can you hear me?

By the way, am I correct in thinking that there’s some sort of OSHA requirement for trucks to have backup alarms on them?  If that’s so, and if that ambulance didn’t have one sounding, somebody’s going to be in deep doo-doo soon.  Update:  The backup alarm has been tested and it was working.  See the update REPORT.

Before we get any further, let’s get this equipment checked out.  I’ll go make some more coffee.  And don’t forget to check the backup alarm.  When we get back to the day room, we’ll talk about why you think it’s ok to back up without a spotter.

Update:
KMSP-TV Minneapolis has just posted this video report on what we’re talking about.  We’ll use this for our 15-minute drill this morning:

Posted by on June 23, 2009 • Filed under: morning lineup
  • Jason Low

    I didn’t watch the video, but if it is a Road Rescue, the backup alarm could very well have been not sounding. My department has a rescue truck that was an ex-EMS unit built by them around 1996. The control panel includes a momentary switch to silence the backup alarm – only for the time that the truck was in reverse gear (going into any other gear and then back into reverse will start the alarm again). I saw the agency that originally commissioned this model from Road Rescue use this alarm-canceling switch frequently in the middle of the night to avoid generating noise at sites like nursing homes and etc.

  • Jason Low

    I didn’t watch the video, but if it is a Road Rescue, the backup alarm could very well have been not sounding. My department has a rescue truck that was an ex-EMS unit built by them around 1996. The control panel includes a momentary switch to silence the backup alarm – only for the time that the truck was in reverse gear (going into any other gear and then back into reverse will start the alarm again). I saw the agency that originally commissioned this model from Road Rescue use this alarm-canceling switch frequently in the middle of the night to avoid generating noise at sites like nursing homes and etc.

  • Kevin

    I definately hear you on the backup alarm policy. I manage an ambulance unit and recently had to re-word our backing policy. We had a very strict-MUST have a backer policy, however in some rare occasions we found that we could not have a backer without causing patient abandonment. Our crews like most EMS crews run two responder (in our case EMT) crews, 1 EMT driver and 1 EMT providing patient care. In a true “sub-urban” area whereas EMS responds independently from Fire and Police, cases did occur (on almost a daily occasion) where we did find the driver needs be driving, and the second crew member could not leave the patient unattended. This presented a serious dilema, that caused me to repeal the strict policy. While the new policy states every effort shall be made to obtain a person to assist with backing. It also reflects the practicality that sometimes there is not enough personel to have a backer (and it was looked at, but found not even close to practical to dispatch a fire apparatus or police car on every EMS call, with call volume).

    Unfortunately it came down to Backer vs. Patient Abandonment.

  • Kevin

    I definately hear you on the backup alarm policy. I manage an ambulance unit and recently had to re-word our backing policy. We had a very strict-MUST have a backer policy, however in some rare occasions we found that we could not have a backer without causing patient abandonment. Our crews like most EMS crews run two responder (in our case EMT) crews, 1 EMT driver and 1 EMT providing patient care. In a true “sub-urban” area whereas EMS responds independently from Fire and Police, cases did occur (on almost a daily occasion) where we did find the driver needs be driving, and the second crew member could not leave the patient unattended. This presented a serious dilema, that caused me to repeal the strict policy. While the new policy states every effort shall be made to obtain a person to assist with backing. It also reflects the practicality that sometimes there is not enough personel to have a backer (and it was looked at, but found not even close to practical to dispatch a fire apparatus or police car on every EMS call, with call volume).

    Unfortunately it came down to Backer vs. Patient Abandonment.

  • Dal90

    Webster’s not too far from me. From the bits and pieces I’ve heard, their situation is one easy to empathize with.

    I’m pretty sure the victim was walking left to right across the front of the station — the left is the FD, the right is the PD where he was going to pickup a permit. Most parking is on the FD side.

    Between the bushes providing an obstructed view of persons walking by the front door to the FD, the “blindness” you see during the day between the bright outside and dark black of an open bay door, and possibly diminished hearing by the elderly man (high tones like backup alarms are tougher to hear) the stage was set.

    I don’t know if Webster had two on duty that day for sure. I believe they are the largest town by population in Massachusetts still protected by an all-call force, even the Chief (a lot of smaller towns at least have a full-time Chief for code enforcement needs). They do normally hire two call guys each weekday to work on code enforcement and other miscellaneous stuff. They use the Forestry truck involved in this accident — if there’s a call while out on inspection, they respond back to the station to meet other call members. The call guys are allowed to work upto 20 hours a week of day duty (to avoid paying benefits I’m sure). They asked a couple years ago to hire a couple full time firefighters instead and were shot down, although in a few years once the economy improves I’d expect them to finally add a couple much needed full timers.

  • Dal90

    Webster’s not too far from me. From the bits and pieces I’ve heard, their situation is one easy to empathize with.

    I’m pretty sure the victim was walking left to right across the front of the station — the left is the FD, the right is the PD where he was going to pickup a permit. Most parking is on the FD side.

    Between the bushes providing an obstructed view of persons walking by the front door to the FD, the “blindness” you see during the day between the bright outside and dark black of an open bay door, and possibly diminished hearing by the elderly man (high tones like backup alarms are tougher to hear) the stage was set.

    I don’t know if Webster had two on duty that day for sure. I believe they are the largest town by population in Massachusetts still protected by an all-call force, even the Chief (a lot of smaller towns at least have a full-time Chief for code enforcement needs). They do normally hire two call guys each weekday to work on code enforcement and other miscellaneous stuff. They use the Forestry truck involved in this accident — if there’s a call while out on inspection, they respond back to the station to meet other call members. The call guys are allowed to work upto 20 hours a week of day duty (to avoid paying benefits I’m sure). They asked a couple years ago to hire a couple full time firefighters instead and were shot down, although in a few years once the economy improves I’d expect them to finally add a couple much needed full timers.