What is the role of insurance professionals in community risk reduction?

Is there a role for insurance professionals in the community risk reductions efforts of emergency personnel?

I say, "Yes!" We work in the Pre-event and Post-event. Insurance professionals can show their clients how to lessen the blow before and cushion it afterwards when inevitable trouble comes.

I'm a 30 veteran of the fire service. I graduated from the Executive Officer Program at the National Fire Academy. I had a decorated career. I wrote this article that was published in 2009 in Firehouse Magazine:

Understanding the Need for Risk-Reduction Plans …And Changing Our Culture to Get There

Gordon Graham is an iconic figure in the world of public service education. He said, “Firefighters haven’t invented any new ways to screw up. It is predictable, and if it’s predictable, it’s preventable.” The premise of this ideology is that accidents are extremely rare. If something can be described as a series or chain of events that took place that caused an incident, it is not an accident. Is it unfortunate? Yes. Is it an accident? No, because the removal or alteration of one or several links in the chain would change the outcome. The overuse of the term “accident” in our society allows people an excuse to not take true responsibility for all of their actions. This makes it extremely difficult to change the culture of harmful behavior because they don’t see they did anything wrong to cause the incident! This definitely holds true for the fire service.

Events that require an emergency response can be broken down into three distinct stages.

• The pre-event (everything relevant that took place prior to the event, including the proximate cause)
• The event itself
• The post-event (this includes collateral damage – both long- and short-term effects)

Of the three, the actual event is usually the shortest. The pre-event can stretch out for a very long time – years of poor housekeeping coupled with a lack of respect for ignition sources that eventually result in a fire. The post event is where our emergency response has the most effect. What is the motto of the fire service, our reason to be? Most would say something like “To Save Lives and Property.” Are these just words or do we truly believe it? When we as firefighters look at the total picture of “saving lives” objectively, the energy and effort we put into it may be a little misdirected for maximum effectiveness. Once a fire reaches the free-burning stage, we can have flashover in just a few minutes. We know that fire victims do not survive in a room that has reached this stage. The harsh reality is that when we take into account the entire response time to the incident (the time between when a fire starts and/or call for help and the time when we mitigate the problem or complete the rescue), sometimes our best post-event efforts may be nothing more than body recovery. Here’s the entire response time to an incident:

Start of the fire

1. Fire discovery
2. Time of 911 call
3. Relay of information from Dispatch to responding personnel
4. Driving of response vehicle(s)
5. Arrival at curbside and size-up
6. Assembling a rescue team or fire attack team
7. Donning of personal protective equipment (PPE)
8. Deployment of proper attack lines and gathering of rescue equipment
9. Victim rescue/fire attack operation time

Some departments believe it is beneficial to cut corners on safety to save a few seconds or a minute here or there (i.e., not wearing seatbelts, donning PPE in moving apparatus, speeding and running red lights, and not waiting to assemble a proper entry team). Is it not predictable that these behaviors are eventually going to cost someone in the public or a firefighter their health or life? When it does happen, will we call it an accident? A timely and properly staffed emergency response to incidents is very important. This type of response can mitigate the damage already done and keep the situation from escalating out of control.

It is true that with proper training and practice, we can become more efficient and effective with our emergency response and operational duties. However, the best thing for this citizen would be to not have the fire in the first place because there is a loss in every fire. While loss of life, injury and destruction of property are easy to see, sometimes loss cannot be measured in dollars and cents. The loss that victims of fire may feel may be the inconvenience of temporary displacement. How about loss of privacy? It cannot be comfortable for them to have strangers looking through their home while they helplessly stand outside and watch. They may also feel vulnerable and uncertain with a loss of security. If we can prevent fires through education, engineering, economic incentive and enforcement during the pre-event stage, we can reduce or eliminate a loss. Preventing a fire from happening is saving lives and property!

There is another benefit from not having a fire. Firefighters are not hurt. In the eyes of some, this may not be as much fun as riding on the big, red shiny engine and playing with the tools of fire suppression. But if you go back to the reason why we are here, the responding of a piece of fire apparatus should not be looked at as “excitement.” If that is the case, we are deriving pleasure at the expense of the misery of others. That is in stark contrast to our reason to be and should go against everything we believe in.

What should be done? If we don’t already have it, we should gain an understanding for the need of community risk reduction and make plans for our own communities. An effective community risk-reduction plan is a blissful union between pre-event and post-event mitigation measures to have the most impact on the actual event. Is the fire department limited to just looking to risk reducing measures that deal with fires? No. It should not matter where an effective risk-reduction plan originates. Everyone has a responsibility when it comes to keeping the whole community safe. However, during times of emergency, citizens look to their elected officials for answers. Often, the fire department is sent to respond and provide an answer. For example, the fire department is not responsible for the placement and operation of traffic signals at intersections in the community. However, the fire department is called to provide emergency medical help, mitigate further damage and possibly extricate trapped victims of traffic crashes in the community’s traffic intersections. In that sense, the fire department is a stakeholder.

As a stakeholder, it is the duty and responsibility of every firefighter to be an agent for the community to help everyone stay safe – not just by responding after something bad has already happened, but by providing answers before as well. The public expects fire personnel to know the answers to basic questions about everyday things such as the different types of smoke alarms, sprinkler systems and fire extinguishers and the installation of these live-saving tools. It is not just a “public education or inspection thing.” We all expect police officers to know the answers to basic questions about the law. The answers given by firefighters on questions about smoke alarms, sprinkler systems and extinguishers should not be a guess. It should coincide with what is said by the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). The public deserves correct, complete and consistent information from the questions they ask of any firefighter. It is also the duty and responsibility of the executive fire officer to be an agent for change if needed in the community to help keep everyone safe using the lessons learned in the Executive Fire Officer Program at the National Fire Academy.

Let’s take responsibility for predictable and preventable events and behaviors so that they can be addressed and dealt with. Let’s save the term “accident” for events such as lightning strikes. The overall goal for all should be safer communities in the United States for residents, workers and visitors.

By DWAYNE E. THOMPSON