Free Electronic Event Opens Oct. 16
An Internet Symposium on one of today's most crucial public safety issues -- firefighter safety -- will take place October 16-20. The electronic Symposium, sponsored by the Public Entity Risk Institute (PERI), will occur in the Symposium Center on PERI's Web Site at www.riskinstitute.org. The Symposium is free and open to anyone interested in the issue of firefighter safety.
Interested participants may sign up ahead of time on PERI's Web Site to receive Symposium presentations via e-mail each day.
Firefighter Safety at Emergency Incidents will tackle an issue that has great human and financial consequences for firefighters, the fire service, and local governments. In 1999, 110 firefighters died during emergency operations in the U.S., compared with no such deaths in the United Kingdom. Tens of thousands of U.S. firefighters are injured each year; many never return to active service.
The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) believes that the top five causes of fireground deaths are lack of incident command, inadequate risk assessment, lack of firefighter accountability, inadequate communication, and lack of standard operating procedures.
Firefighter Safety at Emergency Incidents will examine safety issues with presentations from five distinguished fire service leaders. Each morning of the Symposium, a paper addressing one aspect of firefighter safety will be presented. The papers will be sent via e-mail to anyone who signs up ahead of time to receive them.
These Issues and Ideas Papers are intended to be both thought-provoking -- raising key risk management issues -- and practical -- offering useful ideas and solutions.
The Symposium's authors and their paper topics are:
The presentation of the papers is followed by an open, threaded discussion among Symposium participants -- fire service management from paid and volunteer departments, fire safety instructors, local government managers and officials, risk managers, and firefighters.
The Symposium will be moderated by John Granito, a well-known consultant in fire protection and emergency management.
About PERI's Symposium Programs
PERI presents the Symposium Programs as a public service. The programs are an important way for PERI to meet its goal of facilitating the delivery of education and training on all aspects of risk management. PERI was created to support training and education, serve as a resource center and clearinghouse, and operate a grants and research program, all in the areas of risk management, disaster management, and environmental liability management.
Two earlier Symposium Programs have been completed. "Dealing with Disaster" examined approaches a community can take to reduce the costs of a disaster and to overcome the effects of an extreme event. "Fundraising Risks for Nonprofit Organizations" examined how nonprofit organizations can practice better risk management while in the pursuit of funding. The Issues and Ideas Papers presented during these programs are available in the Symposium Center of PERI's web site -- www.riskinstitute.org.
