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Career Fire Fighter/EMT Dies in Ambulance Crash – Florida

Incident overview

A firefighter/emergency medical technician died on the scene of an accident after the ambulance in which he was riding rammed into a tree (August 23rd, 2004). Lights on, and siren activated, the ambulance, with a patient on board, had maneuvered through an intersection when the driver lost control after an apparent loss of traction on a wet road. It is reported that the ambulance hydroplaned, left the road, overturned, and crashed into the tree. The victim, a 22-year-old male, who was belted into the captain’s chair behind the driver in the patient section, died on impact and was pronounced dead on the scene. A paramedic was sitting in the rear of the vehicle and was ejected and sustained serious injuries. He was taken to a local hospital by another ambulance. The driver reported that on approaching an intersection, she had observed the intersection and moved left, westbound to avoid traffic. After clearing the intersection, she traveled in the left turn lane for oncoming (eastbound) traffic due to continued traffic backup in the straight lane. About 300 feet west of the intersection, in a bid to move to the straight lane, the rear tires of the ambulance started skidding and the vehicle started sliding sideways and clockwise as she lost control.

The vehicle continued to rotate clockwise and slid across the westbound straight lane. It then left the roadway and rolled onto the driver’s side with the roof suddenly hitting the tree consequently halting the vehicle. The driver estimated her speed at the time of the incident to be 30-35 mph when she lost control. Due to the collision with the tree and the abrupt stop, the actual speed of the vehicle could not be determined. The technician, who was on the attendant’s seat with his seatbelt on was found sitting in the impact area between the tree and the passenger compartment, entangled with various metal structures and items within the compartment. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Contributing factors.

From the report, some of the factors that could have contributed to the incident and the resulting fatality are as follows;

Weather

It is stated that six weeks prior to the accident, the county had experienced three hurricanes and unstable weather. At the time the crash occurred, it is reported that rain had just stopped. The weather was partly cloudy with a 78 degrees Fahrenheit ambient temperature. As a result of the rain that had just stopped, the road was wet. Loss of traction on wet roads is a common cause for hydroplaning thus the accident could have been due to this weather fact.

Apparatus/Maintenance

The ambulance was not well maintained. According to the report, EMS Division’s policy was to conduct maintenance operations on their vehicles after every 2500 miles using a preventive maintenance checklist. By the time of the accident, the vehicle had gone 9333 miles since its last maintenance. The report indicates that the tires were visibly worn out with wear bars conspicuous on the rear tires. The poor state of the vehicle could probably have contributed to the accident.

Driver burnout

Burnout or fatigue by the driver could have played a part in the incident. The report explains that hurricanes in the weeks preceding the incident had seen employees at the Division work long shifts under adverse conditions. Fatigue may have limited the driver’s concentration and control of the vehicle hence the loss of control and the accident.

Poor state policies.

State policies can also be blamed in part for the incident.  The maintenance personnel questioned stated that the state had no laws requiring routine vehicle inspection certification. The vehicle was visibly in a bad condition and had there been a policy requiring routine vehicle inspection the vehicle would have not been on the road in its state.

Applicable 16 life safety initiatives

The 16 life safety Initiatives, 2004 continue to inform emergency safety practice in the country’s fire service, departments, and EMS organizations. They are the foundation through which the organizations ensure that their personnel and medics’ safety is guaranteed whenever they are in the line of duty. Discussed below or some of these initiatives applicable to the ambulance crash incident.

16. Apparatus design and safety.

The EMS Division failed to comply with this critical aspect of worker safety. The ambulance on which the victim was riding on was not well maintained to ensure the safety of its users. It had skipped the organization policy maintenance timeframes and was in evidently poor condition. Other than the contribution of weather to the accident, the worn-out vehicle tires are another factor that could have facilitated the loss of traction which led to hydroplaning of the vehicle. The 16th Initiative underscores the provision that no firefighter should die in the line of duty due to apparatus or equipment-related issues.

2. Accountability

This initiative sets out to enhance personal and organizational accountability for health and safety throughout the emergency service. No organizational accountability is demonstrated by the fact that the vehicle involved in the accident was long overdue for maintenance and that had not been done. Furthermore, there is inconsistency around the vehicle maintenance which points at unscrupulous dealings within the division. In the report, the make and model tires documented by the Sherriff were different from the ones identified on the EMS division’s maintenance records. Could someone have exchanged them for personal benefits?

4. Empowerment

This initiative requires that workers must be empowered to stop unsafe practices. Clearly, worker’s in the EMS division were not empowered enough to take these steps. First, none of the workers spoke out on the condition of the vehicle. The report stated that wear marks were visible on the tires, yet nobody took it upon themselves to report it. Secondly, the paramedic on the ambulance was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the accident. This shows a lack of empowerment to enhance safety among the workers. Even though the paramedic survived the incident, neither he nor his colleagues should have overlooked such a critical safety procedure.

Recommendations.

The incident discussed exhibits a lot of laxity in the implementation of safety initiatives and remedying of factors that contribute to safety risks in emergency services. Natural factors such as weather, personal factors, – driver burnout, organizational factors, – apparatus maintenance, and government factors such as state policies are all remediable factors that contributed to the incident. Non-compliance with some of the 16 life safety initiatives discussed; apparatus design and safety, accountability, and empowerment also proved to be critical aspects of the incident. Borrowing from these initiatives, some of the corrective actions that can be implemented to avoid the recurrence of such an incident are discussed below.

Consistent comprehensive maintenance of apparatus and replacement of worn-out equipment.

Apparatus and equipment are a critical aspect of safety in emergency services. Consistent and comprehensive maintenance enhances the efficiency of the equipment thus reduced risks of accidents associated with mechanical failure. A well-maintained vehicle with tires in good condition would ensure traction on the road thus reduced the risk of hydroplaning as in the case of the incident. The EMS Division had maintenance protocols in place but did not implement them consistently. Additionally, their maintenance protocols did not include tire replacement. To enhance safety, maintenance of apparatus should be comprehensive and should be done consistently.

Improve organizational accountability within emergency departments.

Accountability especially towards actions that impact employee safety should be enhanced in emergency departments in order to avoid such accidents. The EMS Division in spite of having policies for the maintenance of vehicles did not have in place appropriate supervision to ensure that these policies were complied with. Also, the organization did not hold its employees accountable whenever these policies were breached. This is how the EMS department ended up having an ambulance in bad condition on the road with tires exchanged unscrupulously. Improving accountability means ensuring adherence to organization policy and consequences to individuals who fail to carry out their responsibilities. Enhanced accountability will lead to reduced risk of such accidents due to transparency and adherence to organization policies put in place to ensure safety.

Creating healthy work environments to enhance employee empowerment.

Empowerment in the context simply means making employees conscious of what is happening in the line of duty and being able to voice concerns without negative consequences. In a healthy environment where the workers are empowered, the driver for instance would be able to raise concerns on issues such as the condition of the vehicle she was required to drive. In an empowered workforce, the driver would have been conscious of her passengers and told the paramedic to put on his seatbelt. Similarly, in an empowered workforce, the paramedic would be conscious of the safety risks of not wearing a seatbelt. Creating a healthy environment where employers are free to air their concerns can help reduce incidents such as the ambulance crash through continued consciousness and the ability to address risks before fatalities.

Continuous retraining of emergency service workers.

Continuous training can help advance skills among workers as well as help them cope with changing work dynamics. Training for the driver in the incident for instance might have taken place in times when conditions such as weather were favorable and despite her meeting all the qualifications, she might have lacked the experience of working under such diverse conditions. Emerging trends in emergency services also make it an evolving field, thus, continuous retraining of personnel ensures that they are up to date with the latest advances in their various working fields. Continuous training of personnel can therefore be critical in reducing such incidents in the future consequently enhancing worker safety.

Reflection

The research and development of this incident report have had a great impact on me both at a personal level and as a future emergency service professional. At a personal level, I am angered by some of the revelations in the report on the incident. Nobody should lose a life in the line of duty to hazards that can be avoided by simply implementing organization policies and complying with safety initiatives. How professionals in the field, and the organization administration charged with the responsibility of ensuring worker safety can expose employees to safety risks by failing to take basic measures like maintenance of apparatus is beyond me. It is unacceptable. I am further disappointed by the lack of awareness from the employees such as the driver or the maintenance technician. Emergency service workers ought to be more conscious of safety risks than any other professionals.

Professionally, I have learned a lot about some of the dynamics that lead to incidents in the line of work. This incident report has demonstrated to me that safety risks in emergency service are facilitated by a variety of factors. These factors can act together to compound a catastrophe. In the incident, for instance, all the factors discussed could have been responsible for the incident. Appraising this incident report has also made me appreciate the 16 life safety initiatives in informing emergency safety practices. Adherence to these initiatives has a huge positive impact on emergency service safety. In my future professional practice, I intend to implement these initiatives along with the recommendations provided for the prevention of incidents like the one discussed.