Risk Management Helps Reduce Number of Deaths

Gordon Graham here and again thank you for taking the time to read my little corner of this great website. In the news of late have been some stories that caught my eye – and made me think – and I want to share some thoughts with you. Here is the first of three quick stories for your consideration.

AP – “While recent years have presented many challenges for Americans, one news item from last year was welcome: no fatal U.S. airline crashes occurred in 2010. Over the past two decades, the National Transportation Safety Board’s statistics for major commercial aircraft accidents involving fatalities show a steady decrease from the early 1990s, despite a 50 percent increase in aircraft hours flown.”

The significant part of this brief piece is “no fatal U.S. airline crashes occurred in 2010.” Before you think this is not a big deal, please think about the thousands of flights around America every day around the clock for 365 days in a row and all of those landing (read: controlled falls back into earth) – that is a big deal.

Frequent readers to this monthly column know where I am headed with this – the airlines take risk management very seriously – and for 2010 it all worked well. Over the 100 years that aviation has been a reality, serious thinkers have been studying the crashes and the close calls and developing, selecting, and implementing “control measures” to keep planes in the air.

So let’s go back to terra firma with this story about traffic collisions in the U.S.

“Highway deaths have plummeted to their lowest levels in more than 60 years, helped by more people wearing seat belts, better safety equipment in cars and efforts to curb drunken driving.

“The Transportation Department estimated Friday that 32,788 people were killed on U.S. roads in 2010, a decrease of about 3 percent from 2009. It’s the fewest number of deaths since 1949 – during the presidency of Harry Truman – when more than 30,000 people were killed.

“Government officials said the number of deaths was still significant but credited efforts on multiple fronts to make roadways safer.

“Traffic deaths typically decline during an economic downturn because many motorists cut back on discretionary travel. The number of deaths fell in the early 1980s and early 1990s, when the U.S. economy was struggling.

“But people spent more time in their cars last year, making the estimates more noteworthy. The number of miles traveled by American drivers in 2010 grew by 20.5 billion, or 0.7 percent, compared with 2009, according to the Federal Highway Administration. The number of miles traveled increased slightly in 2009 after declines in the previous two years.

“It’s a really good sign that fatalities are down despite the fact that (vehicle miles traveled) is up,” said Barbara Harsha, executive director of the Governors Highway Safety Association.

“Harsha said fewer people were dying because of a number of factors related to vehicle technologies, safer driving and road designs.

“Safety equipment such as side air bags that guard the head and midsection in a crash and anti-rollover technology like electronic stability control are becoming standard equipment on new cars and trucks.

“Many states have been more vigilant on drunken driving. Alcohol-impaired driving fatalities fell more than 7 percent in 2009 from the previous year.

“And seat belt use, the most basic defense in a crash, reached an all-time high of 84 percent in 2009. Several states have allowed police to stop a vehicle for failure to wear a seat belt even if the officer doesn’t detect another driving violation like speeding.”

The airline business uses the theories of risk management to reduce fatalities and the people focusing on traffic safety use risk management to reduce vehicle fatalities.

Where am I going with this? This is a website focusing on firefighters and your profession understands the value of risk management. From the United States Fire Administration comes this piece.

EMMITSBURG, Md. — Last year saw the lowest recorded number of on-duty firefighter deaths since the USFA began tracking totals, according to preliminary statistics.

The administration first started collating the figures in 1977, and 85 firefighter fatalities were recorded in 2010.

The total marks the second consecutive year of decline for on-duty death totals, as 2009 had experienced the lowest total in 15 years.

Stress and overexertion was again the cause of most fatalities, accounting for 61.1 percent of fatal injuries.

Heart attacks continue to be the leading type of fatal injury, claiming 56.4 percent of the deaths.

Fifteen of the deaths were classified as Hometown Heroes, meaning the firefighters died of heart attacks or strokes within 24 hours after responding or training.

Volunteers accounted for 55 of the deaths, while 28 were career firefighters, one was a paid full-time wildland firefighter and one was a paid-on-call firefighter.

Most of the firefighters who died were older than 50 — 20 were between 51 and 60 years old, while 25 were 61 years or more in age.

Statistics for the type of duty associated with deaths are:

20 On-scene fire
19 Other on-duty
16 Responding
16 After the event
7 Training
4 On-scene non-fire
1 Returning
1 Other
1 Unknown

March and July were the deadliest months, with 11 deaths apiece.

The total of on-duty deaths could be revised in the following months as officials confirm reports from individual states.

“When evaluating the trend in on-duty firefighter fatalities over more than three decades, the past two years have seemed to reflect a possible change in the firefighting culture of the United States where ‘Everyone Goes Home,’ including all firefighters,” Acting U.S. Fire Administrator Glenn Gaines said.

“Working closely with our partners, USFA will continue every effort to be sure that when it comes to firefighter health and safety this downward trend in on duty firefighter deaths continues.”

So there you have it. The discipline of risk management can help you reduce the number of deaths in your profession. And one of the basic rules of this discipline is we have to understand the value of “continuous improvement”. With this in mind, all of you need to take a look at what control measures you can put in place to further reduce the number of firefighter deaths. I am convinced you can reduce the number to one much lower.

Anyhow, that is my pitch for this month. I know I sound like a broken record, but you can do quite a bit to better assure that “everyone goes home”.

Take care and stay safe.

Gordon Graham

President, Lexipol