From electronic vehicles and mobility devices to best practices for collecting and capturing thermal batteries, in this episode, Fire Chief Michael O’Brian from Brighton Area Fire Authority talks about some best practices when encountering electronic vehicle fires.

From large apparatus to brush vehicles and trailers, there’s a huge liability exposure when a service vehicle exceeds the manufacturer’s gross vehicle weight. In this episode, Mike Baker and Bryan Duquin from Client Risk Solutions discuss why it’s important for ESOs to obtain the heights and weights of their emergency vehicles and some best practices for doing so.

Additional Resource

Visit www.responderhelp.com for additional resources on gross vehicle weight and axel weight ratings.

From one-off phishing emails to sophisticated cyber schemes, cybercriminal techniques continue to advance. Shawn Nelson, Chief Information Security Officer at Glatfelter Insurance Group, provides some best practices to help Emergency Service Organizations prevent cybersecurity-related incidents and protect the valuable personal information they collect.

Additional Resource

VFIS University offers cyber training courses to active clients.

From patient handling to driving vehicles, in this episode, Michael McCabe, host of the EMS World Podcast and Director and CEO of McCabe Ambulance in Bayonne, NJ, talks about what keeps him up at night and the issues he’s observed in the ambulance service.

https://emsworldpodcasts.podbean.com

As part of their work to reduce preventable firefighter death and injury, the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation has developed the Fire Vulnerability Assessment Program (VAP). In this episode, Fire Chief Nick Perkins from Travis County Emergency Services District #2, provides an overview of the VAP process and explains how your organization can use this assessment to help your department’s risk reduction strategies.

Body cameras are being used more frequently in the emergency medical services to help with incident management and to ensure the responder behaves and is treated appropriately. In this episode, we are joined by Tim Hearn from Fort Smith EMS (Fort Smith, AR) to talk about body cameras in EMS, why and how his agency implemented this type of program, and the policy they adopted.

The Don't Risk It podcast team is taking a well-deserved break this winter, but we will be back in January with new episodes. In the meantime, we are revisiting a few episodes that focus on critical issues emergency responders face in their day-to-day duties. Whether Santa is riding in the hose bed for the holidays, or a citizen or non-member is riding along for clinical experience, when non-members ride in department apparatus, it can take the driver’s attention off the road. When a driver is distracted from safe vehicle operation, the risk of injury or damage increases. In this episode, members of the VFIS team discuss important considerations for allowing non-ESO members to ride in department vehicles.

The Don't Risk It podcast team is taking a well-deserved break this winter but we will be back in January with new episodes. In the meantime, we are revisiting a few episodes that focus on critical issues emergency responders face in their day-to-day.

Be ahead of the game when preparing your property for seasonal changes in temperature. In this roundtable discussion with members of the Client Risk Solutions team, we talk about some best practices for winterizing stations and support facilities, as well as things to inspect after a major storm. Visit  https://www.vfis.com/Property-Management for additional resources on this topic.

VFIS Risk Control’s expertise and commitment to safety have not only saved countless lives but also improved the overall effectiveness of emergency service providers across the country. In this episode, we talk with Randy Hess, former Director of VFIS Risk Control, about the historical impact of Client Risk Solutions on Emergency Services.

From intersection best practices to smart use of privately-owned vehicles, it’s important that every vehicle operator understands what is expected from management. In this episode, members of the VFIS Client Risk Solutions team discuss the importance of having written policies and procedures in place and offer some best practices for developing emergency response guidelines for your ESO.