U.S. DOT announces final rules for 911 grant program
The U.S. Department of Transportation and the U.S. Department of Commerce announced final rules in the Federal Register in August covering a grant program that will offer up to $110 million to help states, territories, tribal organizations, and the District of Columbia upgrade their 911 call centers to Next Generation 911 capabilities.
Information on how the 911 community can apply for the grants will be made available in a Notice of Funding Opportunity, according to the agencies. To sign up for e-mail updates on the grant application process, go to https://bit.ly/2OYMStP. Questions about the National 911 Program-administered grants can be sent to [email protected].
Study sheds light on how firefighters “take leaps of faith”
“The Hidden Side of Trust: Supporting and Sustaining Leaps of Faith Among Firefighters” study conducted by management and organizational behavior experts at Rice University, Boston College, and Western Michigan University looked at how groups of workers, especially those in high-risk occupations, including firefighters, are able to take leaps of faith. They report that the study results suggest that leaps of faith are initiated and perpetuated through the “dynamics of supporting and sustaining.”
“We found that firefighters take a leap of faith to move from weak evidence derived from mundane tasks and behaviors at the fire station to trust in terms of entering a burning building with other firefighters,” the authors wrote. They noted that “only around 4 percent of calls to a fire station are fire-related, so firefighters may not have seen their colleagues fight a fire. They may not even know them by reputation.”
The authors further cited the following. The dynamics of support begin with knowing who is and who isn’t a good firefighter. “This information is passed from one firefighter to another through stories that have to be clear enough to indicate a firefighter’s trustworthiness. In this way, cues at the firehouse—how people look, act, and talk—are used to determine how someone will act in a fire.”
Groups also need to be sure that “the new information doesn’t cause one person to constantly upend judgments about someone else,” the authors noted, “as that could make an already dangerous job more hazardous.” The authors explain that firefighters also need “sustaining dynamics that cut off or diminish new information and keep their judgments stable.” These dynamics, the authors added, “can also mean that firefighters who are initially categorized as untrustworthy aren’t provided with many chances to prove otherwise.”
The authors of the study were Erik Dane, associate professor of management in Rice’s Jones Graduate School of Business; Michael Pratt, the O’Connor Family Professor at Boston College’s Carroll School of Management; and Douglas Lepisto, assistant professor of management at Western Michigan.
Past research had looked at the types of information that lead to trust; however, the researchers noted: “Because such information is rarely perfect or complete, trust always involves a leap of faith.” Few previous studies looked at how workers do this.
A multiphase study of more than 60 firefighters in the United States, beginning with firefighters at stations in the Midwest and on the West Coast and narrowed to a single firefighting department in New England, the authors sought to identify the processes that facilitate and maintain leaps of faith through interviews, observations, and surveys. Questions posed to the firefighters included how they perceived firefighters “with heart” vs. firefighters “working for a paycheck” and how trust was assessed at the site of a fire: how firefighters assessed colleagues they trusted and those they didn’t, why they held those opinions, and what concrete information they relied on as evidence of trustworthiness. The authors resided at the station with the firefighters, observing them as they performed daily routines such as grocery shopping, preparing and eating meals, conducting inspections, and responding to calls.
The authors found that company culture can strongly influence trust: The stories and values in an organization shape who will and who will not be trusted. To be useful in strengthening trust, the authors add, the stories and values need to be sustained so that employees come to see evidence that supports the story. The authors noted, however, that “bias in trust is real: The trustworthiness of the individuals may not be determined by what they actually do but by the categories into which other people fit them.”
Story source: Rice University. “How firefighters and others take leaps of faith.” ScienceDaily. 1 August 2018. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/08/180801131559.htm>.
REFERENCE
High School-Fire Department Initiative Enhances Fire Safety
The Initiative
Initiative Opened Doors
James Crawford is the project manager for Vision 20/20. He is a 40-year veteran of the fire service and a retired deputy chief and fire marshal of Vancouver, Washington. He is the author of Fire Prevention Organization and Management and of the Prevention chapter in Managing Fire and Rescue Services. He is a life member of the International Association of Fire Chiefs.
IAFC reaffirms zero-tolerance stance on discrimination
The International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) Board of Directors issued the following statement at its annual meeting in August.
“Like the entire fire service, the membership of the IAFC faces challenges as we continue to provide leadership to a fire and emergency service that is ever evolving in an environment where technology and the demographic composition of our society and workforces are changing at unparalleled rates. Unfortunately, we have recently seen examples of such challenges in some local jurisdictions, some higher-profile than others.
“Our greatest resources for meeting the challenges of change are the members of the IAFC and their respective agencies who respond daily in operational and support roles to carry out their organizations’ missions in taking care of the public and each other.
“As stated in the IAFC Human Dignity statement (https://bit.ly/2MoO47S) adopted in 2013:
As an organization, we must take positive steps to ensure human dignity by avoiding any remaining vestiges of discrimination or unequal treatment including, but not limited to, a basis on race, color, spirituality, gender, age, national origin, ancestry, socio-economic backgrounds, sexual orientation, gender expression, gender identity, ethnicity, marital status or any legally protected characteristic.
“Allowing such discrimination or unequal treatment, whether active or passive, breaks down our abilities to work together in delivering service to the communities we serve.
“While certainly not a singular event, within the past month, one of our members, a fire chief, was attacked in social media by several anonymous, faceless, and cowardly individuals using racial slurs and despicable language that has no place in the public domain. The subject of the online attack stated he was not concerned about himself when these racist rants were posted about him. His concern is for his department and the larger fire and emergency service.
“The IAFC will continue to lead by example to ensure an equal opportunity and fair treatment for all. When warranted, the IAFC will call out and draw attention to attacks on our members who are victims of this type of hatred. Further, the IAFC strongly recommends that all fire and emergency service organizations and agencies develop written policies and have procedures in place to support these position recommendations.
“Included in these policies should be a statement reinforcing a zero-tolerance posture for acts of deliberate or intentional discrimination and clear understanding of consequences. It is important for leaders to maintain a fire and emergency service where each of us is morally committed to ensuring equality of opportunity and inclusivity for every individual.”
IAFC, NVFC release Cancer Best Practices report
The International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) Volunteer and Combination Officers Section (VCOS) and the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) have developed and released the “Lavender Ribbon Report: Best Practices for Preventing Firefighter Cancer,” which presents 11 actions for mitigating the risk of cancer for firefighters.
“We call upon fire service leaders and all personnel to make cancer prevention a priority in your department,” said Chief James Seavey, Sr., chair of the VCOS cancer committee, co-chair of the NVFC cancer subcommittee, and a cancer survivor. “We owe it to each firefighter, to their families, and to the community to take every step necessary to keep our firefighters healthy and to ensure they come home safely. Together we can stop firefighter occupational cancer.”
The organizations strongly recommend that local leaders use the information in the report to make changes to improve the safety and health of responders. Departments are urged to disseminate the report (https://bit.ly/2Mcb8uC) and display the poster (https://bit.ly/2nzl4PZ). Additional cancer resources are at firefightercanceralliance.org.
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