At FDIC on Wednesday, March 23, Eastside Fire & Rescue (Issaquah, Washington) Deputy Chief (Ret.) John K. Murphy led a discussion on several topics related to NFPA standards (such as 1041, 1403, 1851) that have impacted recent lawsuits in the fire community as well as legal best practices.
Murphy opened the class with a 20-minute open forum related to “how departments will conduct training in their departments faced with declining revenues, loss of firefighters, and station closures.” This will require a paradigm change in training philosophy.
Murphy then covered the responsibility departments have to provide training under several NFPA standards. the responsibility the training officer and fire chief have for providing a safe training environment; four prominent national cases of firefighters deaths during training events, the NIOSH investigation, findings and legal outcomes. The class also covered Training Best Practices and some strategic legal advice in case the department is sued for a training injury or death.
One of the more sobering aspects of Murphy’s class were the recent real-life examples of damaging lawsuits that have resulted from firefighter deaths which occurred during training. Among the incidents cited were the unnamed New York State department where an assistant chief was was charged with criminally negligent homicide following the death of a firefighter during a live fire exercise; a 29-year-old Baltimore, Maryland, female firefighter who died during a live exercise; and two firefighters who died after a fall from a ladder truck in Kilgore, Texas. These incidents, among others, were prime examples of how the the lack of adherence to NFPA standards were attributable to both the preventable death of a firefighter and the litigation that followed.
Murphy also reviewed NIOSH’s analysis of each incident and its legal impact on the fire service. He also covered the steps departments should take when getting sued, which follow:
- Don’t talk among other firefighters.
- Notifying insurance carrier.
- Don’t speak to the press.
- Prepare a statement.
- Control all rumors.
- Let legal council speak for you.
最终,墨菲stressed that firefighters conducting training know the standards, have proper classroom exposure, wear the correct PPE, and be in good physical condition, or they as well as their departments, may pay the consequences, literally and figuratively.
