The task force, chaired by Dennis Smith, was assembled to assist in implementing a national near miss reporting system for the nation's fire service. The effort is funded by grants from the U. S. Fire Administration and Fireman's Fund Insurance.
Sparked by an information exchange between the fire service, aviation industry and military more than four years ago, the development of a near miss reporting system for the fire service is necessary to reduce fire fighter line of duty deaths and injuries. One factor surfaced immediately. Parallels between operations in the cockpit, the military chain of command and the fire service make a near miss reporting system for the fire service a logical option to explore.
The aviation industry has accumulated 28 years of data in its near miss reporting system. Linda Connell, director of the NASA Airline Safety Reporting System, told the group that the keys to the aviation system's documented success lie in its confidentiality, non-punitive posture, buy-in from all stakeholders (i.e., Air Line Pilots Association, Federal Aviation Administration), and feedback from the stakeholders validating the program success.
Fire fighter line of duty deaths and injuries continue to occur at the same rate as they did in 1977. This stagnated rate is troubling given the following:
Structure fires are down 54 percent over the same period.
And greater emphasis on fire fighter survival and training over the last ten years.
The "Father of Human Factors," Dr. Robert Helmreich (University of Texas) told the task force that his research into errors and reporting in the aviation and medical industry support that the system will work in the fire service and be just as successful. He noted numerous parallels between the aviation industry and the fire service to support his premise. Dr. Helmreich noted that 70 percent of all commercial pilots have filed a near miss report and 97 percent of the events reported are not known by any other source. Since fire fighters are generally driven by a desire to help and save lives, he believes that near miss reporting for the fire service will be successful as long as fire fighters realize that the lives they are saving are those of their fellow fire fighters.
The task force has a series of meetings planned to move the project from the concept stage to full use delivery by October 2005. The aggressive timeline will involve an action plan that includes focus group meetings across the U.S., database development and testing based on focus group input, soliciting fire departments to test the system and a roll out at IAFC's Fire-Rescue International Conference in Denver, Colo., August 2005.
