Fire Fighter Advisory Committee - Injury Reporting

At its May 2013 meeting, members of the fire fighter advisory committee brought up some concerns they’ve been hearing about the injury reporting program, specifically as it relates to the collection of follow-up information related to burns.

An example the committee members discussed was a leg burn a fire fighter suffered during overhaul operations. The injured fire fighter was wearing the appropriate gear and was following the department’s standard operating procedures (SOPs), but he still suffered a burn to his leg. The department felt that the gear did what it was designed to do, since it protected the fire fighter from a more severe injury. When the department reported the injury, however, it seemed as if the report form was forcing them to choose between two options: was it a gear failure, or an SOP failure? In this case, it was really neither. Fire fighters work in inherently dangerous environments, and sometimes the conditions exceed the capabilities of the gear.

In its current form, the injury reporting program collects information on all fire protection personnel injuries. The program’s goal is to look for trends in the fire service and to help provide analyses that may help reduce future injuries.

The commission’s injury reporting specialist follows up on virtually all fireground burns; typically, the follow-up is simply an e-mail request for information on the relevant gear. The information the commission collects is a “subset” of the records required by NFPA 1851. If the department is following NFPA 1851 (as required under §435.1), it will have this information on hand.

For example, if a fire fighter suffers a burn on his or her arm, the commission will seek additional information about the bunker coat, even if the gear did not fail or was not damaged. The commission’s follow-up requests are not intended to find “departmental” failures, but are instead intended to help us find trends. The commission records the follow-up information and then analyzes it against other burns and gear collected across the state. The commission cannot discern from initial injury reports whether or to what degree the gear was damaged, so we depend on the fire service to provide us this information.

The committee also raised questions regarding the “triggers” for commission investigations. When the injury reporting program first began a couple years ago, the agency’s emphasis was on “compliance” violations. This wasn’t a particularly productive approach, however, since it seemed to place the commission and departments in adversarial roles. Some departments felt that the reports were “self-incriminating.” But since then, the commission has “de-coupled” the injury reporting program from its investigations; as one of the committee members said at the meeting, “…we’re not looking to nail you on this, we’re just trying to collect the data so that we can make something better.”

That’s not to say that an egregious or willful violation of commission rules won’t get the compliance officers’ attention - but in the vast majority of cases, though, the commission’s follow-up will simply be an e-mail, such as the one below:

E-mail request for information

To provide the Texas fire service with better statistical data, we need to gather information regarding the PPE being used at the time of the injury. Please provide the following information on the PPE:

1. Brand and/or manufacturer.
2. Manufacture date.
3. Serial Number.
4. Model.
5. Material of PPE.
6. Status of each piece of PPE after injury:

·         No Damage.
·         Moderate/Needs Repair.
·         Severe/Being Replaced.

Pictures of PPE should be included when the gear is being repaired or replaced.

We hope this helps clear up any concerns your department may have regarding the intent and collection of information. If you have questions regarding the injury reporting program please contact the commission.