Crash Responder Safety Week (#CRSW) Spotlights Responders Ahead! Reduce Your Speed As You Proceed

Formerly National Traffic Incident Response Awareness Week

When: November 18-22, 2024

Crash Responder Safety Week (CRSW) is an opportunity to make a difference individually and jointly for roadway safety during traffic incidents by teaching each other and the motoring public about our common goal and responsibility for safe, quick clearance.

Public education and effective TIM practices that alert drivers and prepare them to react properly when encountering emergency scenes, including moving over and slowing down, keep motorists safe, reduce needless secondary crashes, and save lives. The goal of Crash Responder Awareness Week is to reach out to every emergency responder, every driver, and every passenger, to educate them in how to play their part in ensuring safe responses at roadway incident scenes. More details are available from the National Operations Center of Excellence. Use the hashtag #CRSW when posting on social media about your responder safety and TIM activities.

The Emergency Responder Safety Institute is an official partner and supporter of Crash Responder Safety Week.

ResponderSafety.com and The Responder Safety Learning Network have hundreds of resources to help you plan your Crash Responder Safety Week training to improve the safety of your personnel when responding to incidents on the roadway, including vehicle fires, crashes, medical emergencies, natural disasters, and large scale responses like mass casualties and violent incidents. Here are the main categories of resources available to you. All resources are free.

If you need somewhere to start, ResponderSafety.com has created the following plan for training options during Crash Responder Safety Week.

All Week: Take the National TIM Training Certificate Challenge

  • Challenge your personnel to complete the National TIM Training Certificate from the Responder Safety Learning Network during this week. Set a participation goal and reward if the goal is met. Personnel can prove they completed the certificate by printing and showing the National TIM Training Certificate to their supervisor or commanding officer.

During Your Weekly Training Session, Drill Night, or Down Time on Shift

There are many different ways to use the topic plans described below.

  • Training Session Focus: Select one or more topics described below as your department's training focus for the Stand Down week's training session or drill night.
  • Full Week of Activities: Do a "weekly plan" where you select one activity from one topic on each day for the entire week from 11/8 (Topic Plan 1) through to 11/14 (Topic Plan 7). Pick the activity in each topic that most closely fits your role in the department.
  • One Topic: Commit to completing one activity in one topic some time during the week. Select a topic and activity most relevant to your role in the department.
  • By Opportunity: Read the topics and activities and select some according to opportunities in your department. For example, during a shift change or at a group meal, play one of the suggested Roadway Safety Shorts. If you have an officers' meeting, go over SOPs or play a TIM in a Minute from the Roadway Safety Teaching Topic Packages on a procedure of particular interest in your department.

Activities

Leadership:

  • Watch the Responder Safety Learning Network programs, "Traffic Incident Management: Model Practices and Procedures," "Recommended Practices for TIM SOPs," and "Traffic Incident Management Requirements in NFPA 1500."
  • Review your department's SOPs for roadway response, including high visibility garments and PPE, incident command, scene size-up, setting up a traffic incident management area (TIMA), blocking procedures and safe parking/positioning, emergency lighting deployment, manual traffic control protocols, scene control, move it or work it decision-making, response in Privately Owned Vehicles (POVs), termination, operation in special situations (vehicle fires, HAZMAT, crash investigations, medical helicopter landings), backing up apparatus, and after action reviews.
  • Revise any SOPs that are outdated or inconsistent. Model SOPs to help you craft your department's SOPs on some of these topics are available here. and here.
  • Review your department's training schedule and incorporate training on revised SOPs or reinforcement of existing SOPs.
  • Review NFPA 1500's chapter on Traffic Incident Management to ensure your department is following these best practices even if the standard is not required in your jurisdiction.

Fire Officers:

Training Officers and Instructors:

Safety Officers:

PIOs and Public Educators:

Frontline Responders:

Activities

Leadership:

  • Watch the Responder Safety Learning Network modules "High Visibility Innovations" to see how to make your fire apparatus and emergency vehicles more visible to oncoming traffic and "Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices" to understand the requirements for high visibility apparel.
  • Consider ways in which your fire apparatus can be retrofitted to be more visible and resolve to work on these modifications this year.
  • Review your department's high visibility apparel SOP with all officers and direct them to review it with their crews.
  • Review the federal Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices section pertaining to high visibility apparel to ensure you are in compliance, as well as any state MUTCD or state supplement in your state.
  • Check your stock of high visibility apparel and order any needed items.
  • Verify that all personnel have been issued high visibility apparel and it remains in usable condition
  • Order any necessary high visibility apparel

Fire Officers:

Training Officers and Instructors:

  • Teach the lesson from the ResponderSafety.com Roadway Safety Teaching Topic Package "PPE and Emergency Lighting," which provides an overview of high visibility apparel and the use of emergency lighting. The lesson plan is available here.

Safety Officers:

PIOs and Public Educators:

  • Visit the PIOs & Public Educators page and download video and media relations materials to incorporate into your media relations or public education campaign during National Traffic Incident Response Awareness Week.

Frontline Responders:

Activities

Leadership:

  • Review your department's SOPs for setting up a TIMA with all officers and direct them to review it with their crews.
  • Watch the Responder Safety Learning Network program "TIM for the Next Generation" to reinforce the importance of teaching basic traffic control procedures to all new department members.
  • Read NFPA 1091 to understand how your personnel must be prepared for traffic control duties.

Fire Officers:

  • Take the Responder Safety Learning Network module "Intro to Fire Service Traffic Control Professional" to understand the importance and challenge of performing traffic control duties at the roadway incident scene and how to select personnel suitable for this task. Encourage your crews to do the same.
  • Take the Responder Safety Learning Network module "The First 15 Minutes at Roadway Incidents" to understand the role of traffic control in initial response. Encourage your crews to do the same.
  • Review the Roadway Safety Teaching Topic Package "Setting Up a Traffic Incident Management Area," which provides an overview of the process, then discuss your department's corresponding SOPs with your crews. The lesson plan is available here.
  • Speak to leadership if your crews are not yet adequately prepared to set up traffic control at every incident and discuss how to remedy the situation.

Training Officers and Instructors:

  • Teach the lesson from the ResponderSafety.com Roadway Safety Teaching Topic Package "Setting Up a Traffic Incident Management Area," which provides an overview of the process. The lesson plan is available here.

Safety Officers:

  • Play the TIM in a Minute video, "Setting Up a Traffic Incident Management Area" during a safety break, roll call, or shift change to reinforce the how to properly set up temporary traffic control at a roadway incident scene.
  • Watch the Responder Safety Learning Network program, "LODDs on the Roadway: Safety Lessons Learned" to explore the importance of traffic control in maintaining safety at the roadway incident scene. Share at least one of the case studies from this module with your department. Make a list of action items for your department to address any findings from these case studies that correspond to deficiencies in your department's policies, procedures, and training.

PIOs and Public Educators:

Frontline Responders:

Activities

Leadership:

  • Review your department's SOPs for advance warning and blocking procedures/safe parking/positioning.
  • Compare your SOPs to the procedures recommended in the Responder Safety Learning Network programs "Advance Warning" and "Blocking Procedures at Roadway Incidents." Consider adjusting your SOPs if you identify any gaps.
  • Review your department's SOPs for advance warning and blocking procedures/safe parking/positioning with your officers and direct them to review the SOPs with their crews.

Fire Officers:

Training Officers and Instructors:

  • Teach the following lessons from ResponderSafety.com:
    • Roadway Safety Teaching Topic Package "Advance Warning," which provides an overview of how to deploy advance warning at roadway incident scenes.
    • Roadway Safety Teaching Topic Package "Blocking," which provides an overview of how to position emergency vehicles in blocking positions at roadway incident scenes.
  • The lesson plans are available here.

Safety Officers:

PIOs and Public Educators:

  • Download and distribute the ResponderSafety.com push card to help the public understand how to react to advance warning and blocking vehicles when they encounter them on the roadway. If you need printed copies, order them from [email protected] and list the following: Name, Address and Phone Number of Your agency as well as a contact person. Please advise how and where you intend to use the cards and the number requested.

Frontline Responders:

Activities

Leadership:

  • Review your department's SOPs for conducting manual traffic control.
  • Compare your SOPs to the procedures recommended in the Responder Safety Learning Network program "Safe Fire Service Traffic Control Practices". Consider adjusting your SOPs if you identify any gaps.
  • Review your department's SOPs for conducting manual traffic control with your officers and direct them to review the SOPs with their crews.
  • Review your department's training schedule to ensure that you are adequately training department members in manual traffic control who may be assigned this duty.

Fire Officers:

Training Officers and Instructors:

  • Teach the lesson from the ResponderSafety.com Roadway Safety Teaching Topic Package "Manual Traffic Control," which provides recommended practical instruction for manual traffic control. The lesson plan is available here.

Safety Officers:

PIOs and Public Educators:

Frontline Responders:

Activities

Leadership:

Fire Officers:

Training Officers and Instructors:

Safety Officers:

PIOs and Public Educators:

Frontline Responders:

Activities

Leadership:

  • Review your department's SOPs for termination of response at a roadway incident.
  • Compare your SOPs to the procedures recommended in the Responder Safety Learning Network program "Termination." Consider adjusting your SOPs if you identify any gaps.
  • Review your department's SOPs for termination with your officers and direct them to review the SOPs with their crews.
  • Take the Responder Safety Learning Network module "Fire Service Collaboration with Towing & Recovery Operations." In light of the module, review how your department can improve its relationships with towers in your area, particularly in terms of safety and providing protection.

Fire Officers:

  • Take the Responder Safety Learning Network module, "Termination" and encourage your crews to do the same.
  • Review your department's termination SOP with your crews.

Training Officers and Instructors:

  • Teach the lesson from the ResponderSafety.com Roadway Safety Teaching Topic Package "Termination," which provides recommended practical instruction for manual traffic control. The lesson plan is available here

Safety Officers:

  • Play the Roadway Safety Short video "How to Demobilize a TIMA" during a safety break, roll call, or shift change to reinforce how to properly conduct manual traffic control.

PIOs and Public Educators:

Frontline Responders:

  • Take the Responder Safety Learning Network module, "Termination" to learn more about how to properly demobilize a TIMA when response to an roadway incident has concluded.
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