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One way is compliance with the Seatbelt Initiative. This can be a struggle. Many advocates have experienced the same resistance of receiving signatures. The language used is for some reason "hard to understand" for their State Fire Departments. This can be a challenge, but it is achievable. Simple language interpretation and some personal conversations go a long way to obtain a signature. In addition to signatures the Dearborn Fire Department has implemented seatbelt training. Donning their full turnout gear and locking into the seatbelt. Experiencing the evolution and overcoming the minor hassles was well worth the satisfaction of accomplishing the goal. What did it identify; the comfort level of those who could secure their seatbelt with the SCBA strapped on and those who would need to wait until they arrived at the incident to don their SCBA.
In this position I view the structure of the Advocates and how everything flows fall under the Chain of Command. We travel with our communication from the National level to the smallest Fire Departments. Everyone is responsible and need to be held accountable for their actions. We must avoid gaps and communication failure. That being said we are all human and human error in inevitable. So, recovery is critical. When networking with advocates all around the country technology is a necessity. We have enhanced our process of communication and it needs to continue to reduce the death of firefighters. Every part of our initiative is focused on the final outcome, to prevent one death at a time.
Nazih M. Hazime
Dearborn, MI
Region V Advocate