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Uniform Policy Changes?
was just asked to head a commitee concerning our uniform policy. If you could change some things in your departments Uniform policy what would it briefly be? ie. Shorts, goatee, hair longer/shorter, cotton/nomex? ........
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by jonathan mcnemar on
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i would our dept. to let us have a goatee. we have surrounding dept. that allow full beards, but not us. we do have some guys that have long mustaches that go down to their chin but not past and that is how they get away with it
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Permalink Reply by David Tibbitt on
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In are dept we are allowed to wear shorts during the warm weather, no goatee's, men have to have short hair but the women in the field can have their hair as long as they want it out side of the uniforms ( what up that ) and I preffer nomex over cotton
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Permalink Reply by ILDisasterEMT on
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I may get "flamed" (pun intended) but here it goes anyway:
I would like to see fire-based EMS stop showing up to EVERY medical call in bunker gear. I realize that in many states or departments it is a regulation. For MVA calls, bunkers should be an absolute must. But when the call comes out "unknown medical. elderly male found unconscious and unresponsive in bedroom" what on earth are we trying to prove by showing up and marching through someone's nice neat home in full bunkers and helmets? First off, as I say, often bunker gear is dirty and quite frankly can smell pretty bad. Secondly: EMS only agencies don't show up to medical calls dressed like this. Finally: this is why God created station pants and job shirts.
Also, I know that alot of departments dont have duty crews (that is crews that are posted to the station24/7). The department I am training with happens to be one of them. So for medical calls, we usually have members either closest to the station respond to the station and then out on a rig or from home to the scene in a POV. If you are on call for medical, or are sitting at home listening to calls go out and think that you are planning to respond if its a close in call, there are a lot of calls at once, etc, would it hurt you to sit around the house in duty pants rather than your favorite ratty jeans. A department ball cap isnt a uniform and isn't very re-assuring to the loved ones of the injured or ill person you are going to help. If you can sit around in jeans or sweat pants listening to your radio, you can sit around in clothing suitable to call response with a professional appearance.
(I'll get death threats for this one) PLEASE DO NOT wear your favorite camoflauge ball cap on a call. I see this especially with rural departments and it makes my skin crawl. Ive seen medics do it. What does it say? "It says I am a paramedic, highly trained and here to care for your family. But just in case I spot a deer on the way in, I wore my camo." Argghhh. Again, I make most statements as an EMT/corpsman, but if I am not wearing a dept ball cap or my helmet when necessary for a medical/MVA, I am wearing either a blue ball cap with the SOL on it or a navy blue military boonie cap. My rule of thumb is, if you wouldnt stand working line inspection in it, dont respond to a call wearing it.
I think the bear minimum should be department issued or FF/EMT appropriate head gear (shoot me, I call it a cover), dept t-shirt, polo or job shirt in good repair, station or EMS pants, black work or tactical boots. Its the old "would you buy a used car from this man?" We want the public to trust us and that trust begins with our appearance as first impression as we get off the rig. Im an EMT with a state disaster medical team. We wear khaki BDUs and maintain a military appearance. Im not saying creased and starched, but is clean and squared away that hard?
As far as facial hair, I cant say Im a big fan of it, mostly because I have read studies that indicate that it can interfere with the proper seal of our SCBA mask. Ive seen a few members of this forum that have really great looking, old-school firefighter handlebar mustaches and if I could figure out how to grow one, I might have one myself EXCEPT...if you have ever been working very closely to someone's face as in CPR or other medical intervention only to have them vomit on your face (I have had it happen) you will go home, shave off that great looking 'stache or goatee and never grow it again.
No long hair on men...in fact no hair that is not up over the ears and does not touch the collar in the back. As for our sisters, if your hair isnt short enough for those guidelines and you cant tuck it under your cap or stick your pony tail down the back of your shirt, its time to get out the scissors. And please...no long fingernails, girls. It defeats the purpose of BSI gloves and looks unprofessional. When I did medical SAR in NM, fingernails had to be unpolished and clipped within 1/4 inch of the end of your fingertip. Men and woman, I know firefighting is dirty business, but if you also run medical, would it really hurt to use some Lava handsoap once and a while and take a knife point to the underside of those nails. If you knew what lived under their...well...nuff said.
I dont mean to attack anyone. Personally, I happen to feel that since the fire/rescue service and EMS are based on a paramilitary model, we could take a few clues from them in terms of dress, deportment and appearance. We are in the public eye and also, the way you appear is 90% of the way you will perform.
YMMV.
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Permalink Reply by Greenman on
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Let me add my 2¢.
I think ILDiasterEMT hit the nail most-squarely on the head. I don't think any department should allow full beards, period. Of Goatees, whilst I'm not a big fan of them on FFs, I think a close-cut neatly trimmed goatee might be okay EMS personnel. There's a reason that the mustache is the traditional "firefighter look," namely that is doesn't interfere with the wearing of SCBA. When I was newly certified in Georgia, we had a call for a trailer fire on Memorial, and I hadn't shaved since Friday morning and I ended up going through three bottles on a job that should have only been a one-bottle affair. After that I at least hit my face with the electric shaver every morning - even on long weekends!
About apparel....I think ILDiasterEMT was right. While maybe not sitting around your home on Station Pants, why not blue BDU pants and a dept T-shirt? Or blue Dickies shorts and a "Proud to be a Volunteer [FF/EMT]" T-shirt. If it's cool where you live, why not go to thefirestore.com and order a job shirt? I have one I got when I first start volunteering and I've worn it everywhere since! Hockey Games, Airplanes, Trains, even a couple of Medical Calls (lol). My point is the same as ILDiasterEMT’s ...if you plan to, or hopes to, respond to calls, why not dress the part?
Regarding jewelry...I think one pair of studs per person should be allowed, two rings (one per hand), and tasteful necklace (maybe with a St. Florien, Star of Life, or Maltese Cross pendant?). I don't think any department should discriminate based on gender when it comes to jewelry.
Long hair....I'm torn over long hair. Being a Soldier for the last 18 years, I'm sort of trained to not like long hair on males, but just like jewelry, I don't think any department should require short hair on males and allowed escape ropes on females (FF Rapunzel). There should be a standard for both which is somewhere in the middle...Maybe no longer than 2" below the collar, applied equally to males and females. As long as it's kept neat!!!
There are times when "come as you are" is perfectly appropriate for a volunteer department! Like when the tones drop for a structure fire at 0230, for example. I related a story on another discussion about being at the Food Lion when tones dropped for a fire and I was wearing shorts, tank-top and flip-flops! It all worked fine under my bunker gear, My Captain called it "barefoot firefighting" because I had no socks on inside of my bunker boots. After that I kept a pair of socks and a department T-shirt in my gear bag (which I kept in my POV). I could always throw the T-shirt on for rolling hoses and rehab operations.
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Permalink Reply by Beth on
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Our dept. is come as you are if not on duty. On duty you wear a nice pair of jeans or duty pants with a dept. shirt or dept. sweatshirt and steel-toe boots. Duty is from 1800-2400 (dispatcher logic). We provide shirts, sweatshirts, boots, coveralls and/or bunker gear for everyone. If you come dressed to badly then you put on your coveralls. Most of our guys don't have much facial hair because of the seal on the SCBA. The girls usually have their hair up or braided.
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Permalink Reply by turk182 on
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just one thing when putting the flag on yhe arm make sure the stars are forward and the stripes are pointing backwards.
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Permalink Reply by nita on
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I think our dept. is pretty typical of a paid dept. We are required to wear the blue pants....most of us choose the medic pants.... and a polo, unless we are cleaning up the yard or doing vehicle maintenance etc....then we can wear our dept. issued t-shirts. The polo's are color coded: FF and Driver= blue, Captain= grey , anything above that rank is white. They are embroidered with a semblance of our patch and name and rank. We must also wear dept. issued belts and boots(there are several of those to choose from). We do still have our dress blue and white shirts that have patches on the shoulders and a place for your badge. We wear the blue shirt mostly for teaching classes or attending meetings. The white one's are just for funerals.
We are allowed to wear shorts in the hot Louisiana summer and they are really just the medic pants cut off and hemmed. There are only a few that actually do that.
We are issued ball caps and can wear them whenever.
We are also issued workout shorts, t-shirts and a hoodie.
A coat, of course, that zips apart to make a lighter weight jacket.
We do have written grooming standards but they aren't followed to the letter for male nor female anymore. It's not a free for all though and everyone looks professional. No beards or goatees are allowed but a few of the guys have that little patch of hair below thier bottom lips and that seems to be ok. Mustaches aren't supposed to come down past the corners of the mouth...but some do. Sideburns aren't supposed to come down past the earlobes...but some do.
I'm the only female and I pretty much wear my hair how I want to. Right now it's short...not "over the ears and off the collar short" but too short to put in a pony tail or clip up. I used to wear it longer and in a pony tail. I've never worn earings or a necklace on duty. I simply wear a watch and my wedding ring.
One thing that you might want to think of when revising your uniform/grooming policies is.....tattoos. They are so prevalent these days that they need to be addressed. In our policy...you can have tattoos but they should be covered up by your uniform. So...if someone feels the need to have "sleaves" , they better like long sleeve shirts. We have one guy who can't wear the shorts in the summer because he decided to use his legs as a canvas.
Anyway...hope that helped.
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