This chapter discusses developing an effective occupational safety and health program for emergency services. It outlines the essential elements of a program, including management commitment, a program manager, a safety committee, record keeping, and data access. It describes setting goals and objectives to guide the program, then developing action plans, conducting cost-benefit analyses, providing training, and creating standard operating procedures to accomplish the goals. The chapter provides examples and guidance on implementing each of these components of an overall safety program.

1. Occupational Safety and Health
for Emergency Services
Fourth Edition
Chapter 4 — Safety Program Development
and Management

2. Objectives
At the conclusion of this chapter you will be able to:
‣ List the essential elements of a safety and health
program.
‣ Describe the process required for the development of
goals and objectives.
‣ Develop an action plan based on goals and objectives.
‣ Perform a cost–benefit analysis.
‣ Describe the relationship of training to the safety and
health program.
‣ Describe the process for developing standard
operating procedures.

3. Introduction
‣ Steps for a successful safety and health program
‣ Determining essential elements
‣ Setting goals and objectives
‣ Planning necessary actions
‣ Weighing costs versus benefits
‣ Conducting safety training
‣ Developing standard operating procedures (SOPs)

4. Determining Essential Elements
‣ Vary by department type and size and nature of
responses
‣ Necessary elements to get the program started:
‣ Commitment of top management
‣ Safety and health program manager
‣ Safety committee
‣ Record-keeping system
‣ Access to data

5. Setting Goals and Objectives
‣ Once the essential elements are in place, the
program manager and safety committee should
set goals and objectives.
‣ This is accomplished through a common
management approach.

6. Goals
‣ Broad-based statements with a measurable
outcome and specified time frame
‣ Become the road map of the program
‣ Should be realistic and obtainable
‣ Goals for a particular time frame should be limited
‣ Members may lose interest
‣ Program may suffer

7. Objectives
‣ Specific statements of action
‣ Aid goal accomplishment
‣ Provide the road map to reaching the goal
‣ Each objective deals with one specific activity within
a given time frame
‣ Should be clear and to the point
‣ Should be measurable and easily analyzed

8. Sample Goals and Objectives

9. Action Planning (1 of 3)
‣ Step-by-step written guide to meeting an objective
‣ One for every objective

10. Action Planning (2 of 3)
‣ Very specific steps for completing the objective
‣ Specific action
‣ Person(s) responsible
‣ Resources needed
‣ Anticipated support or roadblocks
‣ Actual completion date

11. Action Planning (3 of 3)

12. Cost-Benefit Analysis (1 of 3)
‣ Supports a position
‣ Show how the program will save money in the future
‣ Risk reduction
‣ Assumptions often must be made
‣ Estimations of improvement
‣ Analyzing historical injury data
‣ Evaluates the cost-effectiveness of a program
‣ Current cost of the risk (direct and indirect)
‣ Compared with cost of program

13. Cost-Benefit Analysis (2 of 3)
‣ Step 1: Describe the current cost of the risk.
‣ Step 2: Determine the cost of the risk after the
intervention has been implemented.
‣ Step 3: Calculate cost of program implementation.
‣ Once these steps are completed, an informed
decision can be made.

14. Cost-Benefit Analysis (3 of 3)

15. Training (1 of 2)
‣ Training programs
‣ Based on the notion of operating safely
‣ Introduce and test new procedures
‣ Training staff should be integrated in the safety
program

16. Training (2 of 2)
‣ Vast resources are available for training programs
‣ Fire and EMS professional organizations
‣ United States Fire Administration
‣ State fire/EMS training centers
‣ Local colleges and universities
‣ The fire academy
‣ Textbooks
‣ The NFPA

17. Developing Standard Operating Procedures
and Safety Policies (1 of 2)
‣ Necessary to meet some of the goals and objectives
defined in the safety program
‣ USFA’s “A Guide to Developing Effective Standard
Operating Procedures for Fire and EMS Departments”
‣ Four-step development process
‣ Conduct a needs assessment
‣ Develop the SOP
‣ Implement the SOP
‣ Evaluate the SOP

18. Developing Standard Operating Procedures
and Safety Policies (2 of 2)
‣ After development, approval, and implementation,
policies must be reviewed and updated