By Richard Fairburn
for PoliceOne.com

Those of us on ‘the thin blue line’ are sometimes reluctant to admit it, but we can actually learn some important things from our brothers and sisters who ride the big, red trucks. One of those things is the need to appoint a “safety officer” at significant incidents and high-risk training events.

If you are up-to-date on your mandatory NIMS/ICS training, you have been introduced to the concept of a safety officer. The duties of a safety officer at a critical incident scene are to look out for the safety and well being of the first responders, and only the first responders. The safety of the general public during a critical incident rests with the Operations and Planning elements. Fire commanders use a safety officer religiously and confer great powers upon them.

Have you ever tried to get a fire truck or paramedic unit to move their rig for some police-related reason? Damn, tough to get it moved, isn’t it? Locate the FD safety officer and convince him the rig needs to be relocated for safety reasons (on a blind curve, too close to a pending SWAT operation, etc.) and it will be moved, right now!

Some Precedent Exists
We have institutionalized the use of a safety officer at all Reality-Based Training (RBT) events. Whenever the training will involve real guns or dedicated Simunition weapons, we appoint one trainer as the safety officer, and it’s that person’s responsibility to outline the training venue perimeters, ensure all participants are thoroughly searched for live weapons/ammunition, and plan for all eventualities (including a medical response plan should an injury occur). The safety officer does not need to personally complete these tasks, but must ensure they are accomplished.

A safety officer must have the full authority of the Incident Commander or Training Commander to STOP any unsafe actions, on an emergency basis, until a further review is conducted by higher command. It is essential that a safety officer have no other duties at the incident scene or training venue which could distract from their sole focus on safety.

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