Massachusetts Fire Chief 2009

FIRE RISK MANAGEMENT – FIRE CHIEFS – CODES BY AUSTIN SENNETT, FIRE SAFETY ADVOCATE FIRE RISK MANAGEMENT: Webster’s New World Dictionary deﬁnes management as “the act or means of managing or handling, controlling, directing.” Someone in every community is responsible for ﬁ re risk management. My experience indicates that that person is most often the ﬁ re chief. That management role becomes a focal point of his or her performance when a ﬁre loss occurs. Lacking an identiﬁable ﬁre loss in a community, the ﬁre chief’s role as Fire Risk Manager is seldom appreciated, recognized or considered. The term “ﬁre risk management” refers to a systematic approach that identiﬁes, evaluates, and controls risk in order to reduce both the probability that something (event) might go wrong and the adverse effects (losses) if something does. Fire Risk Managers must be capable of researching, organizing and directing approaches that integrate evaluative techniques in order to control systems, events and people. They must have a system and they must manage that system. Code development and code enforcement is a key control method in any ﬁ re risk management system. Both ﬁre risk management and code development involve the evaluation or comparison of risks and the development of approaches that change the probability of the consequences of a harmful event. Both processes incorporate the tasks of identiﬁcation and evaluation of risk as well as the identiﬁcation, selection and implementation of appropriate control measures that are intended to reduce risk. In the business of ﬁre protection, risk management is all about loss control. The business of code development, as it relates ﬁre protection is about the identiﬁcation of risks and the development of recommendations that effectively reduce those risks. The people who develop ﬁ re and building code requirements and those who are responsible for managing ﬁre risk must work together in a consensus process. There are three general categories (administrative, engineering and personal protection) of control measures available to the ﬁre chiefs in their role as ﬁre risk managers. The control measures they select must be effective, efﬁcient and relative to the mission of their ﬁre department, the community they protect and the organization they lead. Common examples of control measures employed by ﬁre chiefs include but are by no means limited to the examples listed below. 1. ADMINISTRATIVE CONTROLS • Codes and Standards • Operational Guidelines • Permits 2. ENGINEERING CONTROLS • Apparatus design • Automatic detection, alarm, and suppression systems • Ventilation 3. PERSONNEL PROTECTION CONTROLS • Self contained breathing apparatus • PASS devices • Community and workforce knowledge and understanding CODES: Codes and standards are a vital component of the ﬁre risk management system. Fire protection professionals, including ﬁ re risk managers, cannot control the code making process but they must be an active player in developing and managing the codes they adopt to protect the communities they serve. In the United States there are two families of model codes. Each uses a consensus based format and is run by a non-proﬁt jurisdiction. One family of codes is published in Quincy, Massachusetts, by the National Fire Protection Association and the other is published by The International Code Council. In the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, both ﬁ re chiefs and building inspectors FIRE CHIEFS: Our towns, cities, and villages are always at risk. Some risks are generic and others may be somewhat unique to an individual community. Our common mission, as ﬁ re chiefs, is to reduce the probability of harm to the communities we serve. That mission is impossible without a systematic risk “OUR COMMON MISSION, AS FIRE CHIEFS, IS TO management plan. Fire chiefs, individually for the comREDUCE THE PROBABILITY OF HARM TO THE munities they serve and collectively for the profession COMMUNITIES WE SERVE.” they represent, must manage a systematic ﬁ re risk plan. A proactive rather than response-based approach to rely on Board of Building Regulations and Standards and the Ofﬁce of both identifying and limiting risks is essential to effective risk manthe State Fire Marshall to develop the appropriate codes and to provide agement. Code development and code enforcement are essential parts guidance and direction related to code requirements. of a proactive risk management plan. M A SSA C HUSE TTS FIRE CHIEF 2009 | 29

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Massachusetts Fire Chief 2009

Massachusetts Fire Chief 2009 Contents A Message from the FCAM President Code of Ethics/Vision Statement Bonds of Service Legislative Report The Fire Chief for 2009 and Beyond Leading a Combination Fire Department Remember When Fighting for Code Change Leadership Matters Fire Risk Management - Fire Chiefs - Codes The Current Economy and its Effect on Fire Departments Statewide Fire Mobilization Plan Beware of the Truss Index of Advertisers

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