¶ … Regulations in Fire Departments Of all the institutions in the country, those dealing with fire safety are probably among the most important. Maintaining a standard of operations is of vital importance in order to ensure the health and safety not only of those receiving disaster management services, but also of those receiving them. For this reason, health and safety, training, standard operating procedures, and record keeping are important components of fire departments across the country.

Safety and Health Policy

Occupational health and safety play an important role, particularly in the lives of fire fighters, who strive to ensure the safety of others. For this reason, it is important to establish an Occupational health and Safety Committee (Breede Valley, 2005). The task of the Committee is then to ensure that all items of safety and health are addressed within the department buildings and also within the vehicles and equipment used during rescue operations.

In addition, the Committee will also investigate accidents and make recommendations regarding the prevention and mitigation of future accidents. At least one Committee member must act as the department's Safety Officer. Safety recommendations must then be made following inspections and meetings.

Training

Effective training is another vital component of fire department operations. Poorly trained officers...

Therefore, the primary goal of the fire department training and education program is to prevent accidents, injuries, illness, and death within the department or among those being assisted.
A further goal is to ensure that fire fighters develop the skills of proficient and professional persons. For this reason, all personnel employed at the fire department receive training that is applicable to the duties the y perform. Drivers or operators of apparatus, for example, will be trained specifically to a driver training standard as set out in the Department documents. All personnel receive training to adhere to the Department Operational Guidelines regarding the Incident Command System. Fire ground operations training occur according to the department's Operational Guidelines. Written procedures are retained regarding training procedures (Breede Valley, 2005).

Standard Operating Procedures

All fire departments must operate according to a set of standard operating procedures. These procedures indicate best practices within the department and ensure that trained officers conduct their work with optimal safety and efficiency in mind (Whitehall, 2009). To ensure that the standard operating procedures are continuously accessible to everyone at all times, these are placed prominently on the bulletin board. The procedures are evaluated on…