Fatigue Management for ESOs

12/01/20 • 7 min

Fatigue impacts personal health as well as a responder’s ability to perform key functions including patient care, incident command and vehicle operations. Efforts to move to shorter shifts continue to face significant resistance while the number of EMS agencies using 24- and 48-hour shifts continues to rise. Dave Bradley details the potential hazards associated with fatigued drivers and provides some potential solutions.

Previous Episode

The Sterile Cab Concept in Practice

Distracted driving is a significant factor in vehicle accidents and emergency services organizations (ESOs) are not immune to these incidents. Historically, emergency vehicles have had a degree of distraction built in by design with two-way radio traffic, sirens, air horns and flashing lights. Blair Tyndall discusses the origin of the sterile cab concept and how it can potentially reduce distracted driving in emergency response.

Additional resources on this topic can be found at ResponderHelp.com and on our website.

Next Episode

Risk Control for EMS Mid-Level Managers

Risk Control for Mid-Level Managers is a program developed by John Kottmyer, Director of VFIS Training Programs, and designed to re-introduce the emergency services officer (supervisor, FTO, etc.) to risk control and how it plays an integral part in safety as well as overall operations. We visit with John Kottmyer to review some of the program details including risk management, roles, responsibilities and potential pitfalls.