The Center for Firefighter Injury Research & Safety Trends (FIRST) at the Drexel University Dornsife School of Public Health is once again bringing the Fire service Organizational Culture of Safety (FOCUS) survey to the US fire and rescue service. The FOCUS survey was developed through the FEMA Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program (AFG) and in response to National Life Safety Initiative #1 on fire service safety culture.
The FOCUS survey was developed specifically for the fire and rescue service and is a tool that predicts firefighter injuries and important organizational outcomes, such as burnout, job satisfaction, and work engagement. To date, over 500 fire departments and 70,000 firefighters have assessed with FOCUS. However, as FOCUS became a first-come, first-serve opportunity, less and less volunteer and combination departments participated over time.
Analysis of FOCUS beta-test data revealed that combination and volunteer departments had higher management commitment to safety scores than their career counterparts. More combination and volunteer departments are needed to participate in FOCUS so this phenomenon can be better understood.
The latest FOCUS wave, the Combination and Volunteer Assessment of Safety (CANVAS) program, focuses on recruiting volunteer and combination departments. Career departments are still encouraged to participate.
Departments of all sizes use their FOCUS data to advocate for staffing, gear, apparatus, and behavioral health resources. Here is what fire departments are saying about the data:
“We have all heard ‘perception is reality’. This is the first time I have ever heard of a data driven mechanism that proves perceptions are reality. Being able to correlate personal impressions and feelings to the culture (safety), will be a great tool moving forward.”
“This data validated much of what I already believed and couldn't prove, suspected but had no way to verify, or plainly educated me on what I need to know to grow a culture of safety in my organization. I can't wait to share this, get the next survey complete, and identify our current FOCUS score so we can start moving.”
If you would like to lead with data, please fill out this form to enroll in FOCUS.
Questions? Please contact the FIRST Center’s FOCUS Team [email protected]
