Another layer of over complication that takes away from real functional training. Requiring us to stare at a computer screen for however many hours a year is not functional training. Get osha the hell out of the fire service and restrict the Nfpa.
All the mention of life safety, UL FSRI, training, data, knowledge, the ability to make tactical decisions…and you won’t come out and address the elephant in the room that is 2-in/2-out. From my view, the vast majority of the scrutiny has been based on the “known victim”. Look at the data of rescues when no report or negative reports are made, how many firefighters have been injured or killed before 2-out is available? Put the data up. Loretta Pickard died on the phone waiting for 2-out.
All for improvements to annual physicals and I know these things could use an upgrade. My question is, does this sneak in a vaccine mandate for all firefighters? The document is ambiguous about this but it does say "OSHA therefore preliminarily finds justification to promulgate a standard which REQUIRES protective equipment and practices to address exposures to infectious disease." in section where they talk about physicals and vaccines.
The proposed Emergency Response Standard does not mandate or impose vaccine requirements for fire fighters. In fact, the regulatory language - which appears in the last 60 pages of the Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) - does not mention vaccines at all. The language you quote is from the background section of the NPRM, which summarizes the evidence justifying the need for the regulatory language. It is the regulatory language, not the NPRM background, that would become law. Since the regulatory language does not mention vaccines or immunizations, there is no way for the ERS to impose a vaccine mandate. The IAFF does not, and will not, support any legislation that unilaterally imposes a vaccine mandate on members.
Recruitment & Retention are a Major occurrence. Some of these proposals will strain the Volunteer Depts. Not to mention what impact this would have on Taxpayers. This has to be amended otherwise there will be loss of Departments . RETHINK this
Suggesting that Fire Chiefs are directing their members to comment negatively, due to financial implications is incendiary and insulting to Fire Chiefs, as well as disrespectful to Firefighters by implying they do not have opinions of their own.
Can the IAFF provide an explanation on why they agree with the proposed changes in language surrounding 2 in 2 out? Manny firefighters are asking about this and there seems to be no clear answer from the IAFF
Professionals get a paycheck. Does OSHA set a standard to compensate ALL Professional Firefighters for the work they do and the Life Safety risks they take to protect the Public? Chief Hughes Battalion 1 (ret) (IAFF L2) Chicago FD
Pay volunteer fire fighters to train during their probation just like tech schools for service members. Where to get the money?...... Federal. Its a national problem if these rules are instituted and volunteers just all walk away.
Sean Decrane's comment "written in blood" is the point of all this. At every turn policy, procedure, doctrine is written reactively after a firefighter or firefighters have made the ultimate sacrifice. Each of the rules and regulations has a name associated with it and we'd probably get less pushback if instead of using a typical bulleted format (i.e. Section V, paragraph 2, subsection b.) we put the name "Smith's Rule", "Smedlap's Procedure" in front of it to align it with the person(s) who died in its creation. We use it in training (i.e. Nance Drill) so why not with the feds? Maybe crosswalk each section to the NIOSH Report that followed. Bottom line, keep pushing. Don't the LCD drive this bus.
Until theres mandated medical retirement so ff dont work almost a whole career just to get run off before retirement these are jusr means for cities to run off higher salary employees to replace them with younger low salary ones. Our dr holds us to the standards but the department doesn’t meet or do any of the preventative requirements.
Safety costs money, but if you don't have the tax base to pay firefighters, as is the case with Volunteer FD's, then is it wrong to make what IAFF percieves to be a "negative comment" to bring it to light that your town just doesnt have the money it takes to follow OSHA minimum safety standards? Remeber most Union fire departments are Paid not Volunteer.
that sounded like congress telling a story they left out that if you want to inspect buildings they don't have to let you in then you would have to get a search warrant, this talk told me nothing of the new standards they want to pass.
Tailored to the district, how are we supposed to fund these? Let alone over zealous OSHA inspectors who if you don't follow to the letter exactly how it's written they will fine you.
Can someone link where the data is that shows firefighters are getting hurt at the beginning of fire like she said around 33 minutes? In my experience it is the complete opposite.
Dr. Kapalo stated accidents on the fireground happen fast, meaning they can occur quickly, often without warning or lead time. She was referring to the pattern of injuries and fatalities, not necessarily the tactical timeline. According to the most recent data published by the United States Fire Administration (USFA), the majority of fire fighters who were fatally injured in 2022 were hurt while advancing hoses on the fireground. For years, we have known that fatalities and injuries often result from overexertion and stress. When the body is stressed and fatigued under fire conditions, we are more likely to make poor decisions, leading to errors that can contribute to injuries on the fireground or fireline. This is corroborated by safety-critical domains such as aviation, the military, and other similar industries.
You can visit the USFA website for additional information: www.usfa.fema.gov/statistics/reports/firefighters-departments/firefighter-fatalities.html
Another layer of over complication that takes away from real functional training. Requiring us to stare at a computer screen for however many hours a year is not functional training. Get osha the hell out of the fire service and restrict the Nfpa.
All the mention of life safety, UL FSRI, training, data, knowledge, the ability to make tactical decisions…and you won’t come out and address the elephant in the room that is 2-in/2-out. From my view, the vast majority of the scrutiny has been based on the “known victim”. Look at the data of rescues when no report or negative reports are made, how many firefighters have been injured or killed before 2-out is available? Put the data up. Loretta Pickard died on the phone waiting for 2-out.
All for improvements to annual physicals and I know these things could use an upgrade. My question is, does this sneak in a vaccine mandate for all firefighters? The document is ambiguous about this but it does say "OSHA therefore preliminarily finds justification to promulgate a standard which REQUIRES protective equipment and practices to address exposures to infectious disease." in section where they talk about physicals and vaccines.
The proposed Emergency Response Standard does not mandate or impose vaccine requirements for fire fighters. In fact, the regulatory language - which appears in the last 60 pages of the Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) - does not mention vaccines at all. The language you quote is from the background section of the NPRM, which summarizes the evidence justifying the need for the regulatory language. It is the regulatory language, not the NPRM background, that would become law. Since the regulatory language does not mention vaccines or immunizations, there is no way for the ERS to impose a vaccine mandate. The IAFF does not, and will not, support any legislation that unilaterally imposes a vaccine mandate on members.
Thank you for the reply! And appreciate the IAFF efforts!@IAFFofficial
Recruitment & Retention are a Major occurrence. Some of these proposals will strain the Volunteer Depts. Not to mention what impact this would have on Taxpayers. This has to be amended otherwise there will be loss of Departments . RETHINK this
Suggesting that Fire Chiefs are directing their members to comment negatively, due to financial implications is incendiary and insulting to Fire Chiefs, as well as disrespectful to Firefighters by implying they do not have opinions of their own.
Can the IAFF provide an explanation on why they agree with the proposed changes in language surrounding 2 in 2 out? Manny firefighters are asking about this and there seems to be no clear answer from the IAFF
Professionals get a paycheck. Does OSHA set a standard to compensate ALL Professional Firefighters for the work they do and the Life Safety risks they take to protect the Public?
Chief Hughes
Battalion 1 (ret) (IAFF L2)
Chicago FD
Pay volunteer fire fighters to train during their probation just like tech schools for service members. Where to get the money?...... Federal. Its a national problem if these rules are instituted and volunteers just all walk away.
Sean Decrane's comment "written in blood" is the point of all this. At every turn policy, procedure, doctrine is written reactively after a firefighter or firefighters have made the ultimate sacrifice. Each of the rules and regulations has a name associated with it and we'd probably get less pushback if instead of using a typical bulleted format (i.e. Section V, paragraph 2, subsection b.) we put the name "Smith's Rule", "Smedlap's Procedure" in front of it to align it with the person(s) who died in its creation. We use it in training (i.e. Nance Drill) so why not with the feds? Maybe crosswalk each section to the NIOSH Report that followed. Bottom line, keep pushing. Don't the LCD drive this bus.
Until theres mandated medical retirement so ff dont work almost a whole career just to get run off before retirement these are jusr means for cities to run off higher salary employees to replace them with younger low salary ones. Our dr holds us to the standards but the department doesn’t meet or do any of the preventative requirements.
Safety costs money, but if you don't have the tax base to pay firefighters, as is the case with Volunteer FD's, then is it wrong to make what IAFF percieves to be a "negative comment" to bring it to light that your town just doesnt have the money it takes to follow OSHA minimum safety standards? Remeber most Union fire departments are Paid not Volunteer.
that sounded like congress telling a story they left out that if you want to inspect buildings they don't have to let you in then you would have to get a search warrant, this talk told me nothing of the new standards they want to pass.
Tailored to the district, how are we supposed to fund these? Let alone over zealous OSHA inspectors who if you don't follow to the letter exactly how it's written they will fine you.
What is the cost to the Fire Department to fund this OSHA Mandate? Is this just another unfunded goverment mandate?
Can someone link where the data is that shows firefighters are getting hurt at the beginning of fire like she said around 33 minutes?
In my experience it is the complete opposite.
Dr. Kapalo stated accidents on the fireground happen fast, meaning they can occur quickly, often without warning or lead time. She was referring to the pattern of injuries and fatalities, not necessarily the tactical timeline.
According to the most recent data published by the United States Fire Administration (USFA), the majority of fire fighters who were fatally injured in 2022 were hurt while advancing hoses on the fireground.
For years, we have known that fatalities and injuries often result from overexertion and stress. When the body is stressed and fatigued under fire conditions, we are more likely to make poor decisions, leading to errors that can contribute to injuries on the fireground or fireline. This is corroborated by safety-critical domains such as aviation, the military, and other similar industries.
You can visit the USFA website for additional information: www.usfa.fema.gov/statistics/reports/firefighters-departments/firefighter-fatalities.html
Sounds WOKE to me? LMAOOOOO!