Safety audit highlights concerns

DIDSBURY - The Town of Didsbury has received the results of the recent safety audit of the fire department, with the findings highlighting several areas of needed improvement.

Formal hazard assessment is one area specifically identified as in need of upgrade, the report states.

The audit was requested by council in late July after eight members of the Didsbury Fire Department (DFD) resigned over concerns about safety and leadership.

On Sept. 24, fire Chief Craig Martin resigned. Shortly thereafter, Deron Reimer, manager of protective services for the town, was named acting fire chief.

At the regular council meeting on Oct. 9, Stephanie Halfyard, human resources coordinator for the Town of Didsbury, gave the presentation on the audit, which was conducted by Edelweiss Safety Solutions, a health and safety consulting firm from Calgary.

"As directed by council, administration had a certified health and safety auditor come out from Edelweiss Consulting on September 4," said Halfyard at the meeting. "He (the auditor) met with a few of the administration (members) and they provided all the information and documentation and the interviews."

Halfyard told council that audits are conducted to be proactive and are designed to aid in continuous improvement.

"It did show gaps," she said. "The biggest was the lack of documentation, which is always a difficult one, especially for a volunteer fire department, who have day jobs. However, it's still the responsibility of everybody. Safety is everybody's responsibility. Going forward, the priority is going to be to view the documentation and make sure it is completed fully and filed in the correct places."

Halfyard said the Town of Didsbury will be having an external health and safety audit next year.

"I'm confident it will show the progression we have made until then," she said. "As far as the complaints of the 16 letters (from the firefighters), he (the auditor) has read them. Typically, they do not look at complaint letters from employees. The points raised in these letters should've been reported in the incident reporting process. That is, again, the breakdown of the documentation process."

Mayor Rhonda Hunter pointed out that the auditor said some good things about the department as well, noting areas to improve.

"That's a great start when you have an auditor who applauds all the good you are doing while identifying some deficiencies that you can always work on improving," said Hunter. "They exposed our department to a thorough audit.

"It wasn't all fantastic and it wasn't all positive. But we get to build on our strengths and work diligently to improve our department with the recommendations to the chief."

On Oct. 10 the town released the safety audit to the public as well as a press release explaining the audit results. The final grade for the DFD was 451 total points out of 945, for a score of 48 per cent.

The DFD received failing grades in three of eight areas of compliance: hazard identification and assessment, 12 per cent; ongoing inspections, 48 per cent; and program administration, 46 per cent.

The DFD received passing grades in the remaining five categories: management leadership and organizational commitment, 89 per cent; hazard control, 53 per cent; qualifications, orientation and training, 60 per cent; emergency response, 52 per cent; and incident investigation, 52 per cent.

The press release from the town stated that the DFD has some work to do, specifically around formal hazard assessments, job descriptions, documentation and making improvements to written procedures and processes.

"The audit results show that the department has been very successful in documentation of procedures for managing an emergency site, equipment maintenance and inspections, and is host to an excellent training program for members," CAO Harold Northcott said in the release.

"The Town of Didsbury is a COR (certificate of recognition) certified organization within the health and safety field and is committed to work alongside the Didsbury Fire Department to support them through the improvements that are required."

Northcott told the Gazette he wasn't surprised by the results of the safety audit.

"We didn't have a good feeling about it because we knew we were short on documentation," he said.

Northcott said the DFD currently has 16 active firefighters, while five more have recently joined up.

Asked whether the department will welcome back any firefighters who have resigned, both Northcott and Hunter said it's a possibility.

Northcott said that, "everything is on the table at this point."

"The department managers run their department the way they see is best," said Hunter. "Right now it is time to let the manager of protective services, Deron Reimer, who is also the acting fire chief, to continue to work with his team. It is time to let them focus on their task at hand, to build, develop and implement the plan and process, together with procedures and policies, that will ensure growth, development and success."

Hunter said that council and administration have full confidence in Reimer and the fire department members going forward.

The complete audit report can be found on the Town of Didsbury website.