The Ontario Fire Service Critical Incident Initiative was formed when training officers in the province realized that, armed with accurate and timely information about critical incidents, they could use this data to drive training to improve firefighter safety.
Currently in the province there is no formal agency whose charge is to capture and share this information with the fire service. While investigations have been completed on many critical incidents, assess to the data has been difficult as Provincial agencies have been slow to share the findings with the fire service. Not only can this lead to frustration, it can also lead to misinformation being shared.
And while the training officers of Ontario can access and use near-miss and line-of-duty death reports from the United States, it is their belief that while there may be some similarities, there are just as likely some unique aspects about critical fire incidents in the Province.
However, absent the access to data, they cannot confirm their suspicions and lack the data to drive changes in training.
During this conversation, recorded on the campus of the Ontario Fire College, we discuss their vision for creating a system to gather and share information from critical incidents in Ontario.
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Guest Contact Information
Steve MacInnis Training Director
Kitchener Fire Department 519-741-2200 x5527
Richard Craibbe Chief Training Officer
Ontario Association of Fire Training Officers http://www.firetraining.ca
www.TheSafetyBlueprint.com
Situational Awareness Matters! website
Firefighter Near Miss Reporting System
http://www.firefighternearmiss.com/