Using the Same Bogus Argument You've Heard Before

ADD THE MASSACHUSETTS BOARD OF BUILDING Regulations and Standards to your list ethically-challenged state agencies.  Using the same sorry excuses that several other states have tried to peddle,  the Massachusetts board has ignored public and firefighter safety by striking from the state building code the requirement that new home construction includes fire sprinklers.

Uponor

Fire Engineering reported yesterday:

"The BBRS is letting down the people of Massachusetts today and for generations to come by allowing substandard homes to be built in Massachusetts," said Ashburnham Chief Paul Zbikowski, president of the Fire Chiefs Association of Massachusetts (FCAM) "Not only are they ignoring the minimum level of safety established by model codes, they are putting our firefighters unnecessarily in harms way."

All national model building codes include the requirement for fire sprinklers in new one- and two-family homes. The BBRS promulgated a building code for the Commonwealth in August and omitted the provision to require home fire sprinklers in new construction. The state fire marshal filed a proposal to allow local communities to be able to set the requirement if they chose to do so which the BBRS defeated at a February 14 meeting.

WFXT-TV Ch. 25 interviewed Chief Zbikowski this morning:

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Saving Money Instead of Saving Lives in Philadelphia

In Philadelphia they've apparently disciplined (in a roundabout semi-official way) a guy who suffered some crescent burns on his cheek during a double rescue, apparently because he failed to properly don his hood. I guess, in Philly, you're responsible for the strength of that little elastic band around the face hole on your hood.

I like the union's theory that this is an effort by the city to intimidate the members into refraining from reporting injuries and thus reduce the city's workers' compensation claims. The more cynical among us may wonder whether it will work that way or if it will just cause the members to avoid risk. Some people out there undoubtedly approve of the latter end. But Philly's is an old and hard-nosed fire department and I suspect that the mission will triumph over the asininity of the city.

Leaving aside the question of motivations, this curious turn of events on its own gives us a window into one of many possible futures of the fire service. Is this trend of post-incident consequences for good-faith actions inevitable? Though we do see this spat play out on the internet in the comments and forums, I am not convinced we will ever get to the point that things like what happened in Philadelphia are common by design. There is already significant pushback against advocates of the Culture of Safety and more and more sane professionals within the fire service are standing up for smart aggression. (With two rescues made there is probably an argument that the actions on scene in Philadelphia were ipso facto smartly aggressive.)

The horse may already be out of the barn, though we are still in the process of closing the gate. Will forces outside the fire service, be they OSHA, the workers' compensation board, cities' risk managers, headline-hungry DA's, or homeland security/public safety directors (read: cops in charge of firefighters) push us down a road that ultimately destroys the aggressive culture that saves civilian lives? I am afraid the answer may well be yes.

………. Patrick Mahoney

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Alcohol Was Involved

A FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, AMBULANCE CREW had a harrowing moment Sunday night when they were suddenly attacked by a man wielding a shovel.  The two EMT's were at the door of an apartment in Bullskin waiting to be let in for a heart condition call.  While they were still in the hallway, a man charged out from another unit and began threatening them and saying he was going to get a gun and shoot them.

The EMT talks to a reporter from WTAE-TV

The attacker then grabbed a shovel that was leaning against the hallway wall and started to swing it at the EMT's.  By then they were able to gain access into the apartment where they closed the door and called for police assistance.  When they arrived, the police had to physically restrain the man who strongly smelled of alcohol.

Robert Shaner, 58, of Connellsville was arrested and charged with aggravated assault,  terroristic threats, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person, resisting arrest, harassment and public drunkenness.

The Daily Courier has the STORY.
WPXI has more details HERE.
WTAE-TV interviews the EMT in this VIDEO REPORT.

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FF Struck at Accident Scene on Highway

A VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTER FROM DEERLIJK, Belgium, was killed Saturday morning when he was struck by a car speeding through an accident scene.  Around 3:30 am an accident involving two cars blocked traffic lanes on the E-17 highway.   A "signalling" unit from the Deerlijk FD was dispatched to set out signage to direct traffic around the crash.  While Firefighter Wouter Vancraeynest, age 34, was setting out warning signs, a third car drove through the scene knocking the signs around and crashing into one of the cars from the first wreck.  The passengers in the third car had minor injuries from that second collision.

De Standaard / Speleers

Within moments a fourth car came speeding into the crash zone, striking and killing FF Vancraeynest before crashing into the previous wreckage and starting a fire.  The two passengers in that car also perished in the wreck.

"Wouter was also professional firefighter in Ghent, and brought that experience to our Corps, that was really an added value," sais Commander Claude Coucke of the fire brigade of Deerlijk.  "The Corps is heartbroken by the death of their colleague."

De Standaard has the STORY.

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Laws Are For the "Little People," You Know.

CITIZEN JOURNALIST ROY BERCAW was strolling around  the grounds of Hahvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with his video camera the other day where he documented the mind-set of the academic elite:

Roy reports:  This shows the rear of two residential buildings owned and operated by The President and Fellows of Harvard College. With clearly displayed Fire Lane No Parking signs five VIPs park their cars on September 13, 2011 at about 2:30 PM creating a barrier for exiting these buildings in case of an emergency. It also blocks emergency workers from entering the buildings to help evacuate the residents.

Apparently there isn't much concern if the Little People are trapped and burned.  The school has a waiting list, anyway.

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Homebuilders Association "Pleased"

DESPITE EXTENSIVE EDUCATION AND LOBBYING by the Calgary, Alberta, Fire Chief Bruce Burrell and others, the Calgary city council's special committee decided to drop the proposed legislation that would mandate sprinklers in new, single-family homes.

Calgary City Council  (CBC)

The Calgary Herald reports:

The decision was made following meetings between the housebuilding industry and a city council committee.

Carol Oxtoby, president of the Canadian Home Builders' Association-Calgary Region, was pleased with the decision. The industry supports customer choice and encourages its builders to offer sprinklers as an option," she says. "It also believes the new Alberta Building Code has increased protection against the spread of fire and it would be premature to layer another set of fire protection measures – in this case, in the form of sprinklers – while we are still evaluating the additional protection offered by these changes over the past two years.

"But if a homeowner is not comfortable, they have the choice to improve that by installing sprinkler systems."

The meek city council then announced that their recommendation is to continue to educate homeowners on the benefits of fire sprinklers while allowing them to make a choice.  Whereupon Firegeezer exclaimed,  "They don't HAVE a choice, you dunderheads.  Who buys their house before it is built?"

Read the announcement in the Calgary Herald HERE.

Thanks to Mark D.

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Friday Morning – Wash Your Hands!

After returning from a fire or haz-mat incident there is always a determined effort to clean off our running gear and tools, etc., partially as a means of decontaminating the clothing and equipment.  Most conscientious firefighters are aware of the possible transfer of carcinogens and other nasties that are brought back from the incident on their clothing.  Not only does the practice of cleaning up has the potential of extending your own life, but it works to prevent you from carrying the contaminants home to be spread among your family members.

But how about when you get back from a medical assist, or ambulance duty?  Does everything seem to be ok because it looks clean?  Think again.  An article in the September issue of the American Journal of Infection Control talks about nurses' and physicians' attire as possible sources of infections.  Laura Martin, MD reviewed the article for WebMD and summarized some of the findings that turned up in a concentrated study done in Israel.  She writes:

Uniforms worn by hospital personnel often are contaminated with the superbug MRSA and a variety of other bacteria, Israeli scientists report.  They swabbed white coats and uniforms worn by doctors and nurses and found potentially dangerous bacteria on more than 60% of items they examined.

Doctors’ uniforms were a little cleaner than nurses’, with 60% containing potentially dangerous bacteria, compared to 65% of what nurses wore.

The researchers checked the sleeves, waists, and pockets of 75 registered nurses and 60 doctors at the 550-bed Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem.  One thing that surprised me was that only 58% of the people tested said that they change their uniforms daily.  Using that as one of the criteria, they found that the rate of contamination with antibiotic-resistant organisms was 29% on clothing changed every two days, compared to 8% on scrubs and cloaks changed daily.  Other similar research has shown that watches, rings, and neckties can also harbor dangerous bacteria.

Everybody's clothing, not just hospital workers, carries a certain amount of bacteria.  But the primary method of prevention is still frequent washing of your hands.  I will repeat that:  The primary method of prevention is frequent washing of your hands.  This is crucial not just when you return to the station after a call, but periodically through the day.

 Now let's get the equipment checked out while I go wash my hands and then get some more coffee started.  After you clean up, we'll meet back in the day room.

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Friday Morning – Drive Safely

A couple of days ago I was talking (HERE) about the latest listing of stolen cars according to "popularity," or rather which ones are most-sought after by the thieves.  The information came from an organization called the Highway Loss Data Institute which is coupled with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.  Over the years we have all heard of these outfits, mainly through press releases such as the one we talked about earlier, but if you're like me, you probably never fully understood just who they are.

Many people think -rightly – that they have something to do with the auto insurance companies, so out of curiosity I looked them up.  The entry page for their website is HERE and on it they describe themselves:

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is an independent, nonprofit, scientific, and educational organization dedicated to reducing the losses — deaths, injuries, and property damage — from crashes on the nation's highways.

The Highway Loss Data Institute shares and supports this mission through scientific studies of insurance data representing the human and economic losses resulting from the ownership and operation of different types of vehicles and by publishing insurance loss results by vehicle make and model.

Then they provide the LINK to a rather lengthy list of all the insurance companies that together fully fund this operation.  The IIHS had its beginnings in 1959 when three major insurance companies banded together to promote better highway safety efforts, then in 1969 the organization was changed to become an independent research group and since then they have been doing most of the crash-test research.  Their goal is to lower life and property loss by having cars built better and able to withstand crashes and become less likely to be in accidents.

They have been successful at it because, they claim, the number of people killed on the nation's roads has been falling since 1979, even as the population and the number of miles driven have been climbing. Much of this improvement is a result of vehicles becoming safer.  In addition, they have been promoting seat-belt laws and better licensing procedures.  In 1992 they moved into a modern, scientific test facility in Ruckersville, Virginia, where they carry out extensive crash testing on outside pavement, inside laboratories and test sled impacts.  I recommend that you take a few minutes to look around their WEBPAGE HERE for the Vehicle Research Center and see what all they're involved with.  It's enlightening.

View more crash-test videos HERE.

Now let's enlighten ourselves with the status of our equipment and get it checked out for today.  I'm going to start some more coffee before we meet back in the day room.

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NIOSH says, "No, for now."

First things first, NIOSH stands for National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. They are part of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) with whom they have often had a relationship that perhaps can best be described as strained. (Think of the CDC as a wealthy but stingy and slightly jealous mother-in-law.)

This rather modest "David" of a federal agency has become the "Goliath" in the post-9/11 responder health debate since they are effectively responsible for deciding which medical conditions will be covered under the $2.775 billion Victims Compensation Fund (VCF). Their entire annual budget is $300 million thus giving them out-sized influence in a highly controversial area, something they would probably prefer to do without.

NIOSH headquarters, Washington, D. C.

The Victims Compensation Fund operates through 2017. Importantly, during the first five years of the fund the maximum total payout is capped at $875 million with the "lion’s share", $1.9 billion, being paid out in the sixth year. Does this mean that congress expects the medical claims associated with 9/11 exposure to skyrocket in the out years?

The reaction to NIOSH’s decision, after a comprehensive literature review, to delay including cancer as a covered illness, has been predictable and unfortunate. NIOSH has come in for a shellacking from 9/11 responders and their families for failing to concede the obvious: they have been stricken with cancer and their work at Ground Zero is the reason.

But, not so fast. It is widely accepted that the resultant cancers from many occupational exposures take many years and sometimes decades to develop. NIOSH is simply doing their job by awaiting proof of 9/11 cancers to appear in medical journals and other treatment or research related documents. Criticizing them for adhering to professional standards is a little bit like the ignorant bystanders at a fire expecting firefighters to skip the supply line or SCBA so they can be quicker stretching a line: it may look good but the results could be disastrous.

All federal agencies are "political." NIOSH is part of the executive branch and they rely on Congress, part of the legislative branch, to provide them with funding. And, of course, depending on who is in the White House, the policy of these federal agencies can swing significantly, as it should. Having said (all of) that, NIOSH is consistently and appropriately dedicated to protecting the health of America’s workers regardless of who is in the WH or in the majority on the Hill. Their agenda is to make the workplace, wherever it may be, as safe as it can be made given constraints.

If cancer is a consequence of 9/11 duty, the studies will soon clearly show it and we can be sure that NIOSH will respond accordingly. Now is not the time to undermine the federal agency most dedicated to worker safety generally, and firefighter safety, specifically.

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Thursday Morning - How Are You Feeling?

Updated, 10 am:
NIOSH report now available online.  Scroll down.

Perhaps you recall the tragic day last July when two Bridgeport, Connecticut, firefighters perished in an afternoon house fire.  Firegeezer reported the STORY HERE at the time it happened.  Yesterday (Wednesday) the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) released the preliminary report on their investigation into the two LODD's.  The Connecticut Post sums it up in the first paragraph of their article about it:

Bridgeport fire officials' failure on nearly every level led to the deaths of two firefighters battling a West Side blaze last July, a federal report has concluded.

That's pretty damning and right to the point.  "Fire officials," "…every level," "…failure," "…led to the deaths."  The Post then goes on to list the findings that were included in the report:

• Despite the information that we passed along on the day of the fire, there was no Rapid Intervention Team available to go to the firefighters' assistance.

• The deputy fire chief and his assistant at the scene of the Elmwood Street fire had a discussion about whether they heard a mayday call from the two fallen firefighters instead of taking immediate action to rescue them.

• The officials did not properly manage the firefighters' air supplies.
• The incident safety officer did not arrive until more than 20 minutes after the fire was dispatched.
• One of the firefighters had transmitted a mayday call that was not acknowledged nor acted upon.

The 60-page report goes on, but no need to belabor it here.  It is no surprise that an earlier state OSHA report cited a critical lack of proper training of the firefighters on SCBA usage and the failure to inspect the air supply equipment correctly.  The NIOSH report has not been published yet, but has been released to the City and the fire department for review while the agency completes its review of its findings and recommendations.  However, the Connecticut Post was also permitted to see the preliminary report and they published the information that we have just passed along in an article yesterday that you can read online HERE.

Included in NIOSH's long list of recommendations are several that address the issue of firefighter health and physical conditioning.  The autopsy of one of them disclosed that he suffered from coronary artery disease.  Again, from The Post:

In February, Rooney said the department plans to adopt the more widely used state Candidate Physical Ability Test, instead of its own test, to evaluate incoming candidates. Rooney said the department is working with the firefighters union to set up annual stress tests for new hires. He said he would like to see a physical ability test required for new hires and monetary incentives for those who meet fitness goals.

For me, this opens up more questions.  Why has the department never had any stress tests for its firefighters after all these years of reports and advances about firefighter health and heart disease?  And, why are they only setting up annual tests for new hires?  Why not test the people who are on the job?

Also, the part that leaves me really befuddled:  "….monetary incentives for those who meet fitness goals."  Isn't that the same mindset that has been draining the treasuries of cities and states everywhere?  How about this for an incentive:  Keeping your job.  Or, remaining eligible for promotion?  Many fire/rescue and EMS agencies have minimal physical ability, agility, and health standards that they maintain as a "condition of employment."  That has been amply demonstrated as an effective method to both reduce on-the-job injuries and to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of fireground operations.

Now I realize that when a department has persistently ignored those areas, they will have several firefighters who are good, dedicated, and skilled employees that have slipped outside the preferred limits.  There are both legal and compassionate reasons to take that into consideration when implementing a physical standard for a department.  But whatever route is taken, it has to be done.  I wonder how many other departments will learn from this report and start corrective programs before they lose their own firefighters to a terrible incident?  Judging from the past, I'm not confident.

Now let's make sure our own health and efficiency is being taken care of and get this equipment checked out.  I'll go get some good, healthy coffee started.

Update, 10 am:
The NIOSH report is now available online.  FirefighterNation has more on this along with a link to the .pdf report HERE.

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