Accountability

I was just curious as to what everyone uses for accountability tags. Below is a picture of what ours look like and how they are kept on our helmets. They are kinda big but it makes you want to take it off and give it to someone especially when packed up!

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Permalink Reply by Adam Box on January 6, 2009 at 9:30pm

I never was much of a fan of the tags on the helmet. On both of my departments we have one tag on the pass alarm key and one that we attach to the d-ring on top of the pass alarm. One tag gets left with the apparatus you came in on and the other gets handed to accountability when you go into the structure.

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Permalink Reply by FETC on January 6, 2009 at 9:33pm

What does the accountability board in which your tags go on look like? Thats a pretty big tag.

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Permalink Reply by Engineco913 on January 6, 2009 at 9:37pm

We have the standard 1 and 1/2" x 3" x 3/16" long pieces of plastic with our name and FD inscribed into the plastic with a white coloration. We also share the same fastener that you have. When we get in an apparatus we leave a tag with the driver and hand one to the safety officer when making entry into a building.

We also have a SCBA (and the year) tag we put on our helmet and also one of our tags. This is more for show since we know who is interior and who isn't.

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Permalink Reply by Gordon "Gopher" Runer on January 6, 2009 at 9:40pm

For most calls they are clipped near the pump panel of whichever engine is being used. For larger scenes they are spread out on the table of the command/communications truck.

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Permalink Reply by Charles Lawrence on January 6, 2009 at 11:17pm

Hi Gordon, We use 2 tags on the helmet, one to be placed with the apparatus you arrive on and one for the entry officer when you enter the hot zone. We have a big board for the accountability officer and a small board for the entry officer. On the links page of www.stonechurchfire.com is our "Stone Church PAS Guidelines". Everyone is welcome to download them and use or modify them.

Our tags, designed in house using Scribus open source desktop publishing. I can email a generic version to anyone who would like.

Our boards, both use dry erase or china pencil.

Our system has turned out to work great for us. If anyone likes, I will go over it with them to help them adapt it to their Department.

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Permalink Reply by Gordon "Gopher" Runer on January 6, 2009 at 11:55pm

Thanks. I don't think that we have a board. I think that it would be hard to get the higher ups to use one. Right now it would be pretty hard because of being so short staffed that everyone is doing something on a working structure call. And i mean everyone. Any suggestions on how to approach the subject without sounding like "a rookie who knows everything"? I see that it greatly benefits everyone's safety and therefore is a great idea.

Thanks

Gopher

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Permalink Reply by Jenny Holderby on January 7, 2009 at 1:01am

I like the type that Charles shows from StoneChurch. They are easily produced for all your new people and replaced when they are lost or have a lot of wear & tear or you have changes. They aren't expensive and can be made with a digital camera & a computer. You don't even have to buy a laminator and material if you don't have them. Clear contact paper works or other plasticizing materials. I like two, one for the driver & one for the entry officer. You can make as many as you think is necessary with what ever information your department decides should be on there.

This type can hold the FFs medical information, or part of it such as Hospital/physician preference, emergency contacts, blood type, allergies etc can all be folded into the inside before it is laminated and cut appart to be used if the fire fighter needs to be taken to a medical facility. Blood types and allergies are very important information in initial care when someone who is hurt can't speak for themselves. We have to keep that information sealed. We go back to the station to pull the file to take to the hospital but if they/we already have contact info and a few other facts care can begin immediately.

As far as an "accountability board", it is a really good idea to have things documented but in a pinch & just to keep track of who is where, 1 tag stays with the driver of the apparatus you responded on. At some point the IC will take accountability, or should. We often use the fire report to do that in early stages to keep track of how many personnel we have on scene. Our reports have each member listed & we check the box beside the name. D-rings are easy to snap onto a good size ring that the entry officer or IC or both, whomever is keeping track can hold on to easily. Using a D-ring to snap it on their coat, board, whatever method they are using. I used to keep them on a 5" ring that I kept on my arm. A very simple method is an old fashioned clip board with a member roster. Put a ring on the top, through the clip to hold the tags then check members off on the list.

In a volunteer fire department, people who aren't certified firefighters who aren't going to make entry can be very good assetts onscene in keeping accountability. It can be simple or you can make it hard but it needs to be done. We have associate members and explorers thank goodness.

Figure out something that works for your department. Nobody likes changes but they are necessary. By making them as painless as possible it helps in the process of getting everybody to participate.

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Permalink Reply by Gordon "Gopher" Runer on January 7, 2009 at 1:10am

Thanks for the ideas. I wish that we had the "luxury" of having associate members and explorers.

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Permalink Reply by Gordon "Gopher" Runer on January 7, 2009 at 1:11am

I like the color idea. All of ours are different colors but it doesnt signify anything in particular.

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Permalink Reply by Charles Lawrence on January 7, 2009 at 1:29am

Gopher,

Here is our SOGs on Personal Accountability System (PAS). Jenny has some good ideas too for getting a system off the ground. We got our boards from Chief's Supply, here is the link.

http://www.chiefsupply.com/Fire,Rescue/Accountability/Command_Boards

You could start by printing out our SOGs, showing all the members the boards, and let them know of alternatives like Jenny states, and let the whole membership discuss it in a meeting. Something like this has to be done by every member or it is useless. Safety is job 1, this is a tool to help us achieve that. Our Safety officer controls the big board and fire ground safety, if he is not on the call, and we don't have someone free to do the job, the IC does it as well. But it gets done on every call, granted, not every call is big enough to get the boards out, but accountability is always there.

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