This bill amends pre-existing workers' compensation legislation establishing a grant program for departments participating in the Firefighter Injury and Illness Reduction (FIIRE) Initiative. Spearheaded by the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries (L&I), FIIRE prompts fire and rescue departments to enact policies and procedures that reflect a "healthy in, healthy out" approach to firefighting and emergency response. The program funds gear, equipment, and other resources to keep rank-and-file safe on the job.

Now, in addition to purchasing gear and equipment, departments can leverage the FIIRE grant program to pay for safety culture assessment and training.

Organizational safety culture—a pattern of shared basic assumptions that a group learns as it solves its safety problems—is a known predictor of injuries. If a department understands their safety culture and improves it, they should see a reduction in these occurrences.

How does a department get to know their safety culture? The Center for Firefighter Injury Research and Safety Trends (FIRST) at Drexel University in Philadelphia developed the Fire service Organizational Culture of Safety (FOCUS) survey.

FOCUS measures safety climate—the shared perceptions of employees regarding their organization's safety policies, procedures, and practices. It specifically measures how supported rank-and-file feel by management and supervisors regarding safety.

It also captures data on metrics related to safety behaviors and compliance, like safety initiative; organizational outcomes, like job satisfaction and burnout; and mental health and well-being outcomes, including self-reported injuries, depression, and anxiety.

The FOCUS survey is administered to all uniformed members of the department, including administration and training staff. Once the assessment is completed, departments receive a comprehensive report and an opportunity to participate in Online FOCUS Culture Camp, where labor-management teams are trained and educated on the relevance of safety culture and the utility of their department's results.

By participating the FOCUS program, fire departments learn how to communicate results to their membership and how to use the results to advocate for staffing, gear, apparatus, and health and wellbeing support resources.

This new law comes after a 2023 partnership between FIRST and L&I to garner FOCUS participation from several FIIRE departments across the state as a pilot program to advance this legislation forward.

FIRST Project Manager of Education & Training Alexandra Fisher, MPH, CHES, instructing fire department leaders at the Washington L&I headquarters in Tukwila during the October 2023 Culture Camp

In the future, the FIRST Center is poised to offer the FOCUS survey and Culture Camps to departments in Washington with funding provided from this law. While the FOCUS survey is currently administered through FEMA Assistance to Fire Grant funding, other states can look to Washington as an example of how they can leverage their workers' compensation programs to bring FOCUS to their departments.

The FIRST Center is a research, education, and practice enterprise organized to support the United States fire and rescue service through objective data collection and analysis.

The WA L&I is a diverse state agency dedicated to the safety, health, and security of Washington's 3.3 million workers, helping employers meet health and safety standards. The FIIRE Initiative promotes best practices and improves firefighter safety and health as it relates to risk management, carcinogen exposure, and occupational musculoskeletal disorders.

For more information, please contact Victoria Gallogly, Outreach and Communication Manager: vhg25@drexel.edu