Learn From Other Departments’ Post-Incident Analyses and Near-Miss Reports

Image courtesy of  Deepwater Horizon Response on flickr

As we discussed earlier this month, your department may get some pretty interesting calls, but most calls are rather routine.  Regardless, a Post-Incident Analysis after every call can be valuable, especially if an injury is involved.  But, let’s say your department has been pretty quiet lately, or your calls have been routine.  You might need a little excitement to perk the interest of your team and keep them on their toes.  This is when other departments’ Near-Miss Reports and Post-Incident Analyses are valuable. 

Learn from others across the country

To learn from other departments’ experiences, check out the National Fire Fighter Near-Miss Reporting System.  This service has three main goals: 

1. To give firefighters the opportunity to learn from each other through real-life experiences.
2. To help formulate strategies to reduce the frequency of firefighter injuries and fatalities.
3. To enhance the safety culture of the fire and emergency service.

Other online resources

• Near-Miss Listen & Learn (Firehouse.com) 
• Near-Miss articles (Fire Engineering)

Learn from local departments

Last week we discussed how certain injuries reported to our FIDO Injury Reporting System lead to investigations by our agency.  As we mentioned, most departments will conduct an internal investigation.  Having the reports from these investigations on hand help us complete our investigation quickly.  Contact us if you’d like to see examples of recent investigations done by the below Texas departments.

• “Northview Court Mayday” Incident Analysis – Structure Fire – Flower Mound Fire Department
• Firefighter Near-Miss Report – Firefighter Injury - Hutto Fire Rescue*

*The first part in a two-part series regarding the Hutto Fire Rescue incident appears this month in Firehouse magazine.  The second part will be in the January issue.  Check them out to learn more!  If you need a copy of the articles, contact the TCFP Library.

Do you read Near-Miss reports?

Does your department review Near-Miss reports in departmental meetings or training?

Have you ever contributed to the Near-Miss Reporting System?