By Chief Sam DiGiovanna
I love this time of year. Spring is in the air; baseball season is around the corner and next stop summertime!
This is the time of year we remind our communities to change their smoke detector batteries when they move their clocks forward on March 14. We also remind them about Spring cleaning of safety around the house such as the importance of checking their fire extinguishers, first aid kits, emergency preparedness supplies and update their emergency plans and contact numbers.
Spring cleaning is not just for our communities. It is also a good reminder for us to do some cleaning. When was the last time you conducted a “spring cleaning” of your department policies?
Depending on how your department stores and distributes policies, the idea of spring-cleaning policies may be more than just metaphor—it is too easy for those big three-ring binders to gather dust at the bottom of our lockers! But today I want you to think about cleaning from a different angle.
Policy Matters
Every public safety agency needs effective and current policies and procedures—now more so than ever with the ever-changing regulatory framework and development of threats that did not exist even a few years ago. Insufficient, outdated, and non-existent policies pose a legal threat to fire departments regardless of size.
And yet, in many public safety agencies, policies are seldom updated—even on a yearly basis. Even if your department has applicable policy or procedural content, members often do not refer to the documents until after an incident has occurred. That can expose your department to liability—or as Gordon Graham says, create “a problem lying in wait.”
Following are some signs that your policies may be overdue for a spring cleaning:
New and existing employees do not fully understand the organization’s expectations and requirements. Employees need to be aware of their specific roles and responsibilities to ensure a fair, equitable and safe understanding of the department’s goals and mission statements. Further, consider that people will do what is expected of them when they know what’s expected of them. And in turn, morale and productivity will increase.
You are not confident that you are in compliance with applicable laws and regulations. As you read this, incidents are happening that will make local, state, and federal changes in what we do. From HIPAA to OSHA to NFPA and FLSA, there is an “alphabet soup” of regulatory requirements to keep up with. Do your department’s policies reflect these requirements? And are you updating your policies as laws, threats and regulations change, or are they the same as the day they were first created?
You are not regularly reviewing and studying policies. Many agencies create what they believe is a comprehensive policy manual, distribute it to their personnel and never mention it again. Do you really think your employees are reading the manual and identifying the specific roles and responsibilities that apply to them and their positions within the organization? Personnel should be reminded and trained on an ongoing basis about your department’s policies and procedures.
You cannot produce documentation showing that your members read and acknowledged policies or completed policy-based training. When Gordon Graham speaks to law enforcement groups, he often describes the dreaded feeling a police chief has when he is on the witness stand and is asked when the last time his officer was trained on the Use of Force Policy. That is not a comfortable question if you cannot produce documentation! As firefighters, we face far fewer lawsuits than our brothers in blue, but just imagine having to answer a similar question from the mother of a firefighter who has been hurt or killed. You must have documentation and proof that your members have read, understood, and acknowledged policy. And just blasting policies out to personnel in e-mails and memos does not suffice. We have all heard (and even used) the “I never got that email” excuse.
Your policies do not match your operational practices. Nearly every agency has outdated policies or policies that are simply ignored because they never made much sense in the first place. You may think this is harmless if everyone knows the policy is not in effect, but it can expose you to expensive and embarrassing lawsuits. If an accident or injury happens and lawyers get involved, you can be sure they will reference the policy book. “Yeah, but everyone knows we don’t do that” will not sound so good then.
Conclusion
Bottom line: Your department can be liable for policies you do not have, policies you have but are being ignored, and policies that are out-of-date. If any of the above warning signs hit home, it is time to get cleaning. I have a great company that can help you get started: www.Lexipol.com
Sam DiGiovanna is a 35-year fire service veteran. He started with the Los Angeles County Fire Department, served as Fire Chief at the Monrovia Fire Dept and currently is the Chief at the Verdugo Fire Academy in Glendale. He is a Senior Fire Advisor for Cordico and Lexipol www.Cordico.com & www.Lexipol.com