It sometimes seems that few people can accurately define risk management, let alone apply it in their organization. Yet, a risk management plan can help an organization identify and correct hazards and substandard work practices before bad things happen. Risk management is by far one of the most effective deterrents to organizational loss.

We often understandably focus on the firefighter fatalities we suffer each year, and of course, we should do whatever we can to decrease this number, which has remained fairly constant in the 100-per-year range. Consider, however, that this number is a small fraction of the annual number of injuries fire service personnel suffer each year on and off the fireground. Data from the U.S. Fire Administration indicate that during the 10-year period ending in 2008, there were just a few more than 41,000 average per-year fireground injuries and a few more than 81,000 injuries per-year overall. Any one of these injuries could have resulted in a fatality. This indicates the need to also focus our efforts on preventing these high injury rates—more accurately, preventing the situations that allow the injuries to occur. A risk management plan can help you do this.

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