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Four Virgin Islands fire stations cited
The Division of Occupational Safety and Health, Department of Labor, Virgin Islands has cited four fire stations for safety and health violations.
Two stations in Frederiksted and two in Christiansted were cited under OSHA’s General Duty Clause, which requires employers to furnish employment and places of employment that are free from recognized hazards that cause or may cause death or serious injury to employees. The violation involved the unsafe practice of riding on the apparatus tailboards when responding to a call.
“While we don’t have a specific standard against riding tailboards, we applied the General Duty Clause based on consensus standards recognized by the industry that prohibit riding on exposed positions on apparatus [NFPA 1500],” Virgin Islands OSHA Assistant Director Stanley Jacobs says. The stations were also cited for their respirators—for faulty and inadequate training in using them and for inadequate maintenance of them.
AN OSHA inspection of the four stations was prompted by a complaint from the local firefighters’ union, expressing concern for the safety of its members. Since the fire service in the Virgin Islands is also a government agency, OSHA cannot fine it for violations. Instead, to enforce its rules, it might notify the highest-ranking fire official and eventually the governor about the violations. “It doesn’t usually come to that.” Jacobs notes.
“To apply the General Duty Clause, a situation has to be defined as serious,’ and we follow up all serious situations immediately,” Jacobs explains. So OSHA required the stations to correct the violation that day.
For the short term, all firefighters who do not fit safely in the apparatus will ride to the fire scene in fire cars. For the long term, the stations will require more government funds to buy bigger or more apparatus. Jacobs says current trucks are small, often seating one to three members—ideal for maneuvering on the Virgin Islands’ small roads.
Mandatory drug testing becomes routine
For firefighters of the San Francisco Fire Department, drug testing has become a routine part of all medical exams. When personnel apply for promotions or special drivers licenses, they are tested for drug use, and when they go on leave for more than 30 days, they are tested if there is any suspicion of a drug problem.
“Drug testing is a management tool, not a gestapo tactic,” explains Captain Michael McKinley, who is involved in the supervision of the drug testing program. “Just look at the pervasiveness of drugs in society. We want to rehabilitate people, save people.”
Drug testing began in the San Francisco Fire Department in 1987, when new recruits were tested prior to being hired. They had to submit to testing or be eliminated. A group of female candidates protesting the drug testing were granted a temporary restraining order, according to McKinley. The case went before a federal judge, who ruled that testing was legitimate. “The judge considered firefighters sensitive positions that can’t be under the influence,” McKinley says. “So right off the bat we got the OK to test from a federal judge.”
Testing current employees “for cause” began in 1988 and resulted in the firing of four firefighters. The four had been ordered into rehabilitation by the fire commission but failed to change their ways. Then employees were still on the payroll while undergoing rehabilitation, but that policy has changed recently.
Now, if firefighters test positive for drugs, they are immediately brought up on charges and asked to take a oneyear leave of absence without pay. (They can be retested independently.) If they can prove they have been rehabilitated sucessfully, they are reinstated. McKinley says two firefighters are currently on leave.
So far, there has been only one refusal to test. The person was recommended for termination and relented. “You need that leverage to make the policy work,” McKinley says. He adds that the unions are against all testing except “for cause.”
“To round out our humanistic thinking on abuse, we should have an employee assistance program or pay for the rehabilitation. Unfortunately, there is no money for it. We’re hurting for equipment,” McKinley says. The department’s stress unit refers personnel to rehabilitation centers. The department does pay for all employee drug testing.
McKinley stresses the importance of fighting drug abuse in the department: “It is easy for drugs to flare up in the firehouse—you might have long periods of time on-duty with nothing to do and turn to drugs out of boredom. However, you just can’t be under the influence while driving apparatus, working a fire, or being an officer in charge of a situation.”
Changing batteries like clockwork
A national public education program called “Change Your Clock, Change Your Battery” is reminding people of the importance of annually checking the condition of their home smokealarms. The message: As you change your clocks back from daylight saving to standard time on the last Sunday in October, change the batteries in your smoke alarm and flashlight.
“One of the major problems in America today is the lack of maintenance of battery-operated smoke detectors,” says Jim Dalton, director of Operation Life Safety at the International Association of Fire Chiefs. People often take the battery from their smoke alarm out to put it in a children’s toy or take it out when smoke from cooking sets off the alarm. So when Eveready Battery Company came up with the idea for the program, the IAFC and the American Burn Association readily endorsed it.
“A few years back, the U.S. Fire Administration estimated that 70 percent of the homes in America had at least one detector. Today that figure is around 80 percent,” explains Dalton. “And maybe 40 percent of them are not working because they are not maintained.”
More than 150 fire departments artparticipating in the program by sending out news releases, distributing safety brochures, checking the batteries for low-income families and the elderly, and speaking at schools to emphasize that working smoke detectors are the first line of defense in the event of a fire.
Congress showed its support by declaring October 30 “Fire Safety at HomeDay—Change Your Clock, Change Your Battery.” And while it’s too early to measure the success of the program (it’s only in its second full year), Dalton hopes people will get the message and begin to link the two events in their minds.
Ford reinspects recalled ambulances
Ford Motor Company is reinspecting 1983-1987 ambulances based on E-350 and E-250 chassis or vans that were recalled for fuel system overpressurization and heater hose replacement. The purpose of the reinspection is to make sure the recall modifications were made.
Local Ford Parts and Service Division district offices will contact ambulance owners and operators to schedule appointments for reinspection, which will be conducted by trained personnel.
Government funds fire safety program
For the past three years, the state of New Jersey’s Department of Community Affairs has allocated more than S330,000 in grants to the New Jersey Fire Prevention and Protection Association to develop a fire safety public awareness program.
The grant funds advertisements that run on billboards, on posters, and in more than 35 newspapers across the state to promote fire service messages. For example, ads saying “Silence can be deadly” urge people to check their asmoke alarms. The grant also funds the association’s annual fire protection poster contest run in schools, in which more than 25,000 students participate. The winner receives a S1,000 bond, and his or her poster is reproduced and . distributed to local fire bureaus, schools, and libraries throughout the state. The association also sends out weekly messages to radio stations on lawn mower safety, fireworks, barbecue grills, and more.
Other association programs:
- Last year, it sponsored the “Fire Safety Children’s Challenge,” a marathon. It supplied participants with Tshirts saying “If your clothes catch fire, don’t run —stop, drop, and roll.”
- The association printed matchbooks that contained matches with no heads. The cover said, “These are the only matches your kids should play with.”
- Videos for the elderly promote fire safety. Topics include what to do if clothing catches fire, how to check smoke alarms, the importance of keeping a phone near the bed, and more.
- In movie theaters, fire safety tags on trailers urge moviegoers to “look around for two ways out.”
Unfortunately the grant will not be renewed this year and the association will be forced to raise money on its own once again, according to William Schultz, president of the association. However, the 25-year-old association will survive, Schultz says: “We were fortunate to receive the grant and to attract so many volunteers. The seed money made us successful.” Schultz considers the grants just one example of a positive cooperative effort between state government and a fire prevention organization.
Who’s watching the kids?
Daycare is a global concern for parents in all professions, especially for firefighters, who with their hectic schedules of nights, weekends, and holidays, are often excluded from traditional 9-5 daycare options.
To address the changing needs of a changing workforce—full of single parents and dual-income couples—Richard Gonzales, chief of the Denver, Colorado Fire Department, along with a committee made up of firefighters and others concerned about daycare, has proposed alternative solutions to the dilemma.
The fire department already provides information regarding the cost and location of available daycare for parents who are too busy to investigate all the choices fully. “Our inspectors cover the area on a daily basis, so they can easily pick up brochures and give insight into housekeeping practices and other considerations in choosing a daycare provider,” explains Chief Gonzales.
The next step is tying into existing programs that will give reduced rates for firefighters and other workers with similar erratic schedules, such as nurses. “Some of our firefighters are paying S50 a day in childcare,” Gonzales says. “It is management’s obligation to research an issue such as this, one that directly affects working conditions.” The committee is investigating other forms of funding as well.
Co-op babysitting is another option, according to Gonzales. The department would contract out with a nanny who would rotate between four or five firefighters’ houses, watching all the kids at one house.
In a few years, Gonzales hopes to convert a firehouse into a daycare center. He says unused firehouses are ideal because they have kitchen facilities and are centrally located. Other plans include utilizing students majoring in childcare as daycare providers.
For now, the committee will conduct a needs assessment. Gonzales says a lot of males and females already are responsive to the daycare initiatives. “We lost a lot of qualified people when we were out recruiting recently, because people said they would have no place to leave their kids if they were to become firefighters,” he says.
The ultimate goal, Gonzales says, is to offer lowor no-cost daycare to firefighters and employees with similar schedules. “It makes them more effective and more efficient employees. They’re not on the phone all the time worrying about their children. Instead, they can concentrate on what they have to do,” he concludes.
