what are your department's standards for accountability? is everyone assigned numbers? what systems do you use for accountability tags? do you have different colors for different rank?-county wide standards? thoughts?-----
_ in my department all the officers have numbers, everyone else used to be issued numbers as well but they kinda stopped doing that because nobody knew their number.we don't have yellow tags we use red for active non-interior( so like the new guys, scene support, truck opperators, fire police and all that- anyboby that cannot wear scba) --all of our scba certified active members are "green-tags" we all thought this was a standard but came to find out that a neighboring department has different accountability standard than in our county and many other counties.-----any comments, thoughts?
My town does the 2-tag accounatbility system. 1 tag=on scene. 2 tags=inside the structure. but everyone in the company is assigned our own numbers. we don't usually forget them becuase our numbers are on our tags, as well as on a velcro patch on the sleeve of our coats. as far as telling the difference in who can be doing what, helmet sticker color is key. orange tetrahedrons=exterior, yellow=interior.
We have our own accountability officer who does nothing more than run accountability on scene. Tags get handed of to her before entering the structure, adn we get them back once outside at ehe command post.
yea we have the bords but just need to get people to use them --we just started gettin into the hemet thing a bit more- our chiefs have white, captians-red, leutenants are black helmets because they are all interior right now but they have a different shield than the other interiors, and then evreyone else not interior has yellow helmets. we have a safety officer that usually collects our tags at the scene but sometimes dosn't or isn't around (it is a volunteer co.) so that makes it hard but in that case the truck opperator is suppored to collect for everyone he is responsible for off his truck. alot of times it dosn't work that way but thats how its supposed to work----accountability is one of my big "pet-peeves" because it could also become a safety issue more than just being disorganized
My dept. and the coutny are going to a single tag system, all tags are different color for which agency your with fire,ems, or police. Each truck has a ring with a truck number on it. The officer puts his tag on the truck ring, and the rest of the personnel place their tags on the officers tag, that team is then called by the officer's last name. (example: my crew would be called team Parmley) Drivers or engineers are to stay with the apparatus, unless told to deadline, then they become part of the crew. Accountability of the drivers are done after all on scene personnel are accounted for. Drivers are the truck numbers. If command would call 5710, they will be calling the driver. All tags are collected at the command post by a accountability officer. We have a large command board and the rings are placed to what the crew assignments are. Once it's fully up and running, anyone on scene will have their tags at the command post, including ems and law enforcement personnel. They are trying to get anyone who might be on scene a ID tag, we are even talking with the local gas and electric compnay, and with municipal public works personnel. We have 16 fire depts. and 5 ambulance dist in the county so we are trying to get a system down so no matter where you go on a mutual aid run the accountability system is the same. The tags will have special qualifications on the back such as emt, haz-mat, USAR training.
unfortunately no "one standard" that everyone must follow, some use a 1, others use 2, and some who use the passport system have 3 tags. So best of luck to you on that one.
Your colored tags for interior / exterior has a flaw, an aggressive new guy could say he just forgot his non-interior tag on a mutual aid run and they just write down his name for accountability during interior ops... by having a specific colored helmet, it is hard to by-pass that system.
By the way, do a search on this topic as it has been heavily debated in the past.
Each member of our department has a number. Mine, for instance, is 202. Our numbering usually goes: 100's for Chiefs; 200's for full time staff (including officers), 300's & 400's are for our reserve personnel. I am an Engineer. Our helmet colors are: Firefighter, black; Engineer, yellow; Officer (Lt. or Captain), red; Chief, white. As for accountability, we have two tags attached by Velcro under the back rim of our helmets. Upon arrival of a scene, the IC gets your tags. One goes on the board for what truck you arrived on, the other goes to your assignment on the scene.
We use a three tag system, 2 tags are clipped to your coat or helmet. On scene one tag goes to the acct. board, the 2nd tag is taken when you go interior, the 3rd tag has no clip. It is carried in wallet or in pocket at all times. We have two acct. boards. One is mounted on rescue van above windshield and 1 portable for use on any other vehicle.
we get ours back once we get to the station typically---and we have 2 tags everyone has a black one at all times and then the colored individual tag--we all have just our names on then instead of numbers now
well im really glad that your dept. is with the program and does things the way they should be done and in an organized way that makes sence! i wish more people would think that way!!!
i figured it probably has been heavily discussed, i know that around my county there are heavy debates about this issue because the tag system of one of our common mutual aid districts is significantly different from their county as well as from mine but tioga county is pritty standardized. and like you said the problem arose butween us and the other department durring a joint training night because one of our new guys thought that he could just walk right into the building and do interior stuff eventho he has never even so much as changed out a bottle before just because his tag was the same color as the other departments interior guys.
i agree--i think that there needs to atleast be some form of accountability no matter what it is or how the system works.---i think that for the most part with the exception of just a few departments anyplace around me we are basically all the same. many people here actually thought that it was NFPA standard to have certian colors for accountability and where supprized to find out otherwise. --as big of an issue as accountability actually is alot of times it is a little suprizing that NFPA hasn't made a standard for it sence it seems like they have for everything else practically. but i knew there wasn't one yet- ;like i said my county has a standard and the counties around us fallow it also for the most part because it just is easier.
i think that it should be that you keep one tag on you at all times and the way it gets recorded as to what truck your on is on the bug clipbord at ic when you leave your tags there should be what team your with and what truck your with