6741 Ch 13 PowerPoint

1. Occupational Safety and Health
for Emergency Services
Fourth Edition
Chapter 13 — Special Topics in Emergency Services Occupational
Safety and Health

2. Objectives
At the conclusion of this chapter you will be able to:
‣ Describe legal considerations of the safety and health
program.
‣ Describe ethical considerations of the safety and
health program.
‣ Describe financial considerations of the safety and
health program.
‣ Describe health and safety considerations in the
diversified workforce.
‣ Describe the implications of future trends and
technologies on the safety and health program.
Objectives

3. Introduction
‣ Legal, ethical and financial issues
‣ Diversified workforce
‣ Future trends and technologies
‣ Discussion
‣ Sparking interest
‣ Future research

4. Legal Issues
‣ A number of legal issues affect emergency services
‣ Not be considered all inclusive or legal advice
‣ Meant to provide awareness
‣ Specific issues arise
‣ Department’s legal counsel

5. Tort Liability (1 of 3)
‣ Party acts without the right to do so
‣ Obligated to act but fails to do so
‣ Action or omission harms another person
‣ Four types
‣ Strict liability
‣ Intentional liability
‣ Negligent liability
‣ Warrant liability

6. Tort Liability (2 of 3)
‣ To prove liability has occurred four elements must
be present:
‣ Duty or standard to act
‣ Breach of duty, either by action or omission
‣ Actual measurable loss or harm
‣ Failure caused the harm

7. Tort Liability (3 of 3)

8. Americans with Disabilities Act
‣ Prohibits discrimination of qualified individuals with
disabilities
‣ May not ask job applicants about a disability
‣ Permissible to ask about ability to perform specific
job functions

9. Age Discrimination in Employment Act
‣ Unlawful to discriminate because of age
‣ Applies to:
‣ Employers with 20 or more employees
‣ State and local governments
‣ Employment agencies
‣ Labor organizations
‣ Federal government

10. Ethical Issues
‣ Safest work environment possible
‣ Incident response and operation
‣ Seldom have control of emergency scene
‣ Can control operations, facility, and equipment
‣ Accident investigation and record management
‣ Confidential information
‣ Ethical standards

11. Financial Issues
‣ Common methods for funding
‣ Organization’s annual budget
‣ First and most common method
‣ Seek grant funding

12. Annual Budget Process
‣ Input
‣ Safety and health officer
‣ Senior staff
‣ Budget’s preparation
‣ Benefits of a particular part of the safety and health
program
‣ Cost-versus-benefit analysis
‣ Convincing funders
‣ Anticipate ongoing costs

13. Grant Funding (1 of 2)
‣ Funding sources
‣ Federal
‣ State
‣ Local city or county sources
‣ Searching for sources
‣ Focus on the proposed project
‣ Emergency services–based grants
‣ Grants outside of the emergency field

14. Grant Funding (2 of 2)

15. Safety Considerations in the
Diversified Workforce (1 of 2)
‣ Trends expected in the American workforce
‣ Population growth will slow
‣ Average age of the workforce will rise
‣ More women will enter workforce
‣ White males will be a smaller percentage of the
workforce
‣ Minorities will be a larger share of the new entrants
into the labor force

16. Safety Considerations in the
Diversified Workforce (2 of 2)
‣ Implications
‣ Increasing average age of the workforce
‣ Emphasis on the physical fitness
‣ Considerations for pregnant women
‣ Diversity of personnel
‣ PPE is not one-size-fits-all

17. Future Trends and Technologies (1 of 3)
‣ Interfacing emergency scene GIS with a GPS
‣ Difficulty recruiting and retaining qualified
personnel
‣ Terrorism preparedness
‣ SCBA facemasks
‣ Projection of individual status information
‣ Projection of building floor plans
‣ Better early warning for fires

18. Future Trends and Technologies (2 of 3)
‣ Greater use of GPS and intersection control
‣ Greater use of thermal imaging
‣ Improvements in protective clothing
‣ Higher-level degrees in occupational safety and
health
‣ Continued national interest
‣ More education and training opportunities

19. Future Trends and Technologies (3 of 3)
‣ Studying safety and health programs
‣ Accomplishments within other countries
‣ Expansion of the national research agenda
‣ Emergency medical services expansion
‣ Community paramedicine