Gordon Graham
Category: Fire

Gordon Graham here with Today’s Tip from Lexipol. And Today’s Tip deals with evaluating the success of Safety Programs.

If the data shows success, you may be able to maintain funding for your safety efforts.

Our tip today comes compliments of Firefighter/Paramedic Ryan Gallic from the St. Cloud, Minnesota Fire Rescue Department. 

Even though today’s tip is directed toward our friends in the fire service, it also applies in the law enforcement and custody environment. 

You know I’m a huge fan of safety programs. The Safety Committee; the Safety Team; the Safety Group…whatever your agency calls them, can be successful in reducing injuries, illnesses and property damage.  

I’m afraid that some of these safety committees, though, are in place simply because they are required by statute or the City or County’s insurance pool requires it so we never really take the time to measure its effectiveness. 

I’m a Risk Manager and Evaluation is part of the Risk Management process. If you’ve ever heard me speak, you know that I love data. I want the numbers. Having a continuous improvement plan and evaluating the progress of the Safety Committee is critical. For instance, having documentation or data showing trends in the reduction of injuries and/or illnesses is crucial. To do this you need baseline numbers prior to implementation of the Committee. If the data shows success, you may be able to maintain funding for your safety efforts. If the data shows shortfalls, you should make modifications to the program to improve the trends. But the point here is to know if the Safety Committee is producing results, you have to have the data to prove it. 

And that is Today’s Tip from Lexipol. Gordon Graham signing off.