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Drill of the Week: Safety & Survival SOGs
Too often, a review of a NIOSH or other firefigher line-of-duty-death (LODD) report reveals that one of the contributing factors relating to the LODD was that the member failed to follow existing safety and survival standard operating guidelines (SOGs). In many cases, a SOG existed that covered the circumstances that the member encountered but they failed to follow the procedure that the department had in place such as wearing seat belts, use of all personal protective equipment, or use of incident management system during operations.
The National Fire Protection Association has standards that require the establishment of many of these policies and if your organization does not have a procedure, many online resources exist to help get these policies into your department. Review the operation or situation on this drill and write in your department's procedure for it. Extra credit goes to members who can cite the policy number or location in your manuals.
Download this week's firefighter training drill as a PDF HERE.
Forest Reeder began his fire service career in 1979. He currently serves as Battalion Chief / Director of Training & Safety with the Pleasantview (IL) Fire Protection District (www.plvw.org) and is the Director of Training for Southwest United Fire Districts (www.sufd.org). In these capacities, he is responsible for the design, implementation and coordination of in-service training activities as well as a full-service fire training academy program. Forest holds numerous Illinois fire service certifications and holds a Masters Degree in Public Safety Administration from Lewis University.
