CREATING AN APPARATUS DRIVER RESPONSE SOP

摘要

Every day in america, two responding fire apparatus proceeding to the same incident are driven in two different ways. One apparatus may exceed the speed limit, and one may not. One apparatus may come to a complete stop at an intersection. In the other, however, a person seated in the officer's seat may exclaim, "We're clear!" and the apparatus will roll through the intersection. Although both units are responding to the same incident, one of these responding apparatus is exposing your department to greater risk of line-of-duty injury or death and financial liability. The fire service needs to address how apparatus are operated on the road. If your organization has a clear standard operating procedure (SOP) for how apparatus drivers should conduct themselves while driving your department's rig, the scenario mentioned above may simply be a retraining or disciplinary matter. However, if your SOP is significantly out of date or, worse, nonexistent, your organization is looking for trouble. Below are some strong reasons to create and maintain SOPs for your apparatus drivers, the necessary building blocks to enable you to write a clear and concise document that will help significantly reduce your department's risk of service disruption, public embarrassment, financial loss, and injury or death.