Sandwich Blitz Unit 3 Essay

The case study for unit three describes an incident in which two firefighters were riding on the turntable of their apparatus while going to a preplan. While riding on the turntable the two firefighters had to duck to avoid striking a bridge. An engine company was following behind the ladder truck and witnessed the incident occur and failed to take any actions to prevent or report it. An off-duty firefighter witnessed the incident and reported it to the chief. The department did have SOPs in place requiring all personnel to ride in the cab and to wear seatbelts while an apparatus is in motion. There are several issues that can be identified in this incident. One of the first issues to be addressed is that all personnel involved or those that witnessed the incident allowed the two firefighters to directly violate SOPs without attempting to prevent their actions. Secondly, the company officer on the ladder truck as well as the officer on the engine company should have stopped this behavior from occurring. Also, the driver of the ladder truck should have never placed his apparatus in motion without first making sure all personnel were properly restrained. It also needs to be determined if the department has properly trained …show more content…
Personnel should be adequately trained to understand their roles in providing a safe working environment and should understand that it is everyone’s duty to prevent unsafe practices from occurring. Another solution should be officer training on proper practices from directing personnel to follow SOPs. Officers should receive proper training to recognize that crew safety is their responsibility and will be held accountable for the actions of their crew members. The department also needs to educate all personnel that regardless of rank it is their right and responsibility to speak out against unsafe