Pennsylvania Highway Incident Management- A Multi-Agency Approach, and Highway Incident Scene Safety and Traffic Control are current model courses that should be used as standards to help develop incident training on a national level. Please visit the Responder Safety website for more information on these courses.
An INCIDENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM MODEL PROCEDURES GUIDE for HIGHWAY INCIDENTS is currently under development from the National Fire Service Incident Management System Consortium , and should serve as a standard.
6I.01
"In order to reduce response time for traffic incidents, highway agencies, appropriate public safety agencies (law enforcement, fire and rescue, emergency communications, emergency medical, and other emergency management), and private sector responders (towing and recovery and hazardous materials contractors) should mutually plan for occurrences of traffic incidents along the major and heavily traveled highway and street system."
Translation: States need to develop uniform TIMS panels and have clear guidelines for handling Emergency Scenes.
"An essential part of fire, rescue, spill clean-up, and enforcement activities is the proper control of road users through the traffic incident management area in order to protect responders while providing safe traffic flow.
These operations might need corroborating legislative authority for the implementation and enforcement of appropriate road user regulations, parking controls, and speed zoning. It is desirable for these statutes to provide sufficient flexibility in the authority for, and implementation of, temporary traffic control to respond to the needs of changing conditions found in traffic incident management areas."
Translation: States need to have a uniform, well defined and enforceable Emergency Scene Management law. Current "Move Over" Laws do not adequate fit the need of this definition.
On-scene responders should be trained in safe practices for accomplishing their tasks in and near traffic.
Translation: States will have in place uniform and consistant TIMS training. This training must be provided to all Police, Fire/Rescue, EMS, and Towing/Recovery personnel.
The following reccomendations are from the The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program.
Reccomendations for Scene Safety, Mark McFall, Safety and Occupational Health Specialist, Trauma Investigations Section, Surveillance and Field Investigations Branch, Division of Safety Research, NIOSH.
Recommendation #1: Fire departments should develop, implement, and enforce standard operating procedures (SOPs) regarding emergency operations for highway incidents.
Discussion: Fire fighters operating at an incident on a highway are in danger of being struck by oncoming motor vehicles. SOPs can help establish proper traffic control measures when operating at an incident scene. SOPs should include but not be limited to the following: incident command, apparatus positioning, lane closures, methods to establish a secure work area, wearing appropriate protective clothing at all times, clearing traffic lanes, and releasing the incident scene back to normal operation. SOPs should include specific procedures to follow at high-volume, limited access highway operations. An example of a standard operating procedure (SOP) is available for fire departments at www.respondersafety.com. This sample SOP provides specific information for high-volume, limited access highway operations.
Recommendation #2: Fire departments should ensure that fire fighters establish a protected work area before safely turning their attention to the emergency.
Discussion: As stated in the Pumping apparatus driver/operator handbook, "some of the most dangerous scenarios faced by fire fighters are operations on highways, interstates, turnpikes, and other busy roadways. Fire apparatus should be placed between the flow of traffic and the fire fighters working on the incident to act as a shield. The apparatus should be parked on an angle so that the operator is protected by the tailboard. Front wheels should be turned away from the fire fighters working highway incidents so that the apparatus will not be driven into them if struck from behind. Also consider parking additional apparatus 150 to 200 feet behind the shielding apparatus to act as an additional barrier between fire fighters and the flow of traffic." The positioning of apparatus (as a shield) is referred to as a "block" that creates a protected area known as the "shadow." For limited-access, high-volume highway incidents, the first arriving apparatus (preferably a ladder truck or other large apparatus) establishes the �block� by positioning the apparatus upstream (the direction that traffic is traveling from as the vehicles approach the scene) from the incident, providing a "shadow" where emergency personnel can safely work.
Recommendation #3: Fire departments should consider limiting or restricting the response of their members in their privately owned vehicles (POVs) to high-volume limited access highway incidents.
Recommendation #4: Fire departments should develop and implement pre-incident plans regarding traffic control for emergency service incidents.
Discussion: The need to identify areas that have higher rates of incidents (e.g., motor vehicle crashes) should be evaluated so that standard operating procedures for emergency personnel can be tailored to the needs of particular sites (e.g., blind curves or corners, hills or sloped areas, and high-traffic areas). Fire departments can work with local highway departments and local law enforcement agencies to identify problem areas and devise solutions to those problem areas in advance. Experience and knowledge of local territory will help in creating pre-incident plans and in the establishment of standard operating procedures to make the response more efficient and safer for emergency responders.