r/Firefighting • u/TigerBack56 • 7d ago

General Discussion Whats your departments dumbest/strangest policy?

So i come from a military background and I know how stupid some policies can be. Our department has a few i can think of but I wanted to here from the community, what is your departments dumbest/strangest legitimate policy?

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60

u/glinks 7d ago

I’m on the only department I know of that isn’t allowed to work out on shift, even during nonoperational hours. It “increases the risk of injury”. Spoke with the city’s lawyers about it in our upcoming union negotiations, and they’re on our side.

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u/Wakintosh 7d ago

Damn so 1 pushup and you're fired?

21

u/bartleby913 7d ago

There is probably some truth to this. I don't know exact numbers but maybe close to 40-50% of our injuries are during PT. But that's a necessary evil.

18

u/Mr_Midwestern Rust Belt Firefighter 7d ago

Totally agree…at the same time, does Firefighter Halfthor need to be moving atlas stones in the stations parking lot on duty?

6

u/BigChingus39 7d ago

Sisyphus gets to move boulders on his shift, why cant I?

5

u/Mediocre_Daikon6935 7d ago

….

Um.

Define PT? 

Lifting weights or doing cardio on a bike? I don’t believe it.

Doing training (ladders, drags, etc., or sports?  That I could believe.

4

u/Jumpy_Secretary_1517 7d ago

We’ve got a lot of power lifters and cross fitters that will start a workout, run calls, come back, and jump right back in. Something inevitably tears, strains, rolls, you name it. A lot of our injuries are related to this as opposed to actual training injuries.

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u/Mediocre_Daikon6935 7d ago

Then. More sensible policy would be informing actual evidence based lifting, and ban bro powering lifting and CrossFit nonsense.

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u/Jumpy_Secretary_1517 7d ago

For sure, I’m not sure any policy would stop people from warming up, starting a lift, coming back, then tearing something because they’re not warm anymore. That’s just nature of the job in combination of getting older and overestimating their capabilities. Simply put, my department is largely so busy that interrupted workouts are just the norm and it is hard to get a real workout in sometimes and guys just fuck up, leading to injury. Even jumping back into a light weight bench or squat after running calls has fucked guys up. I’m all for policy that could fix this, though.

0

u/PerrinAyybara All Hazards Capt Obvious 6d ago

That's not just the "nature" of things. You can most definitely lower that number, it's astronomical

1

u/Jumpy_Secretary_1517 6d ago

What number was said that’s astronomical?

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u/PerrinAyybara All Hazards Capt Obvious 6d ago

The original person said 40-50%

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u/PerrinAyybara All Hazards Capt Obvious 6d ago

This is why we hired an AT. 30-40% of injuries from PT means you have no idea what you are doing. That's insanity

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u/noneofthismatters666 7d ago

Had a BC that believed that shit. Luckily not a policy. But all our flippy tires had to go. We just hid them until he got reassigned for conduct unbecoming.

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u/Rentiak Northern Virginia 7d ago

Department is luckily super proactive with PT and providing equipment, but sports were banned due to injuries.

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u/Dusty_V2 Career + Paid-on-call 7d ago

NFPA 1583 specifically says that allowing firefighters to excise on shift reduces total injuries and reduces costs related to workers compensation.

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u/fish1552 FF/EMT who thankfully doesn't have to do medical 6d ago

Here is the kicker though. NFPA says something, but it is still up to the Chief to implement it. I would wager many volunteer departments don't meet the response times dictated by the NFPA but that is kind of hard to do when half that time is taken up by people responding to the station. SO unless they have 24/7 staffing in the station, it is just hard to meet that in any district that isn't postage stamp sized.

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u/fish1552 FF/EMT who thankfully doesn't have to do medical 6d ago

Our dept had a policy about basketball for a while after 3-4 people sprained ankles in a couple months. So someone was the reason for the (as we said in the Army) reason for the safety brief. :)

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u/Darthbamf 6d ago

This one actually kind of makes sense to me, mostly based on exertion. 

Why blow all your already dragging afternoon energy and 2/3 of your caloric intake on a throwup inducing toxic "I can do better fest" for 2 hours.

Those calories and energy need to be reserved for I don't know - a fire...