Responder Safety Learning Network: Resources for Protecting Emergency Responders

Emergency responders face significant risks when operating at traffic incident scenes. The Responder Safety Learning Network (RSLN) provides a wealth of resources to enhance responder safety and improve traffic incident management (TIM). This article explores the resources available through ResponderSafety.com, a project of the Emergency Responder Safety Institute (ERSI), a committee of the Cumberland Valley Volunteer Firemen's Association, and the RSLN, highlighting their importance in reducing line-of-duty deaths and injuries.

The Critical Need for Responder Safety Resources

Every minute of every day, incident responders put their lives at risk responding to traffic incidents. Despite fluctuations, the number of responder fatalities remains a serious concern. In 2020, 46 responders were killed. This number rose to 65 in 2021, representing a 40% increase. While 2022 saw a decrease to 50 line-of-duty deaths in the United States, the untold number of life-altering injuries responders incur each year while working at traffic incident scenes underscores the urgent need for comprehensive safety measures.

Accessing Safety Resources on ResponderSafety.com

ResponderSafety.com compiles safety resources available for download. Users can select a category to view relevant resources and download them by clicking on the title. Many resources are in PDF format, requiring a reader like Acrobat Reader. These resources are provided for free use and distribution, with the stipulation that they include the credit "Source: CVVFA Emergency Responder Safety Institute ResponderSafety.Com" and are distributed free of charge.

Resource Categories and Content

The Responder Safety Learning Network offers resources across a variety of categories, which are mentioned below.

Advance Warning Equipment and Protocols

These resources provide information on advance warning equipment and protocols, including traffic control devices, their deployment, and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)/Standard Operating Guidelines (SOGs).

Vehicle Blocking Techniques

This category offers guidance on using vehicles to block the activity area, protecting emergency responders and victims during roadway incidents. It may also cover safe positioning of other vehicles within the temporary traffic control zone.

NIMS/ICS Integration

These resources connect National Incident Management System (NIMS)/Incident Command System (ICS) principles with traffic incident management, emphasizing unified command and integration with traffic incident management and planning bodies. This guide from the Federal Highway Administration introduces the Incident Command System (ICS) to stakeholders who may be called upon to provide specific expertise, assistance, or material during highway incidents but who may be largely unfamiliar with ICS organization and operations.

Law Enforcement Roadway Safety

These resources focus on safety in roadway incident response for law enforcement, particularly regarding traffic incident management. The National Law Enforcement Roadway Safety Program (NLERSP) provides no-cost training, technical assistance, and resources to local, state, and tribal law enforcement agencies with the goal of reducing the number of officers injured and killed on the nation’s roadways. A 2004 Staff Study Report documents the work to date of the Law Enforcement Stops and Safety Subcommittee and includes technology, practices, and research related to improving officer safety and preventing police vehicle crashes.

Professional Qualifications and Performance Standards

These resources explain the professional qualifications and performance standards for traffic control officers, emergency responders working on highways, and traffic incident management professionals. An Exam Workbook and Study Guide prepares the user to take the written test for certification to earn the Certified Traffic Incident Management Technical Specialist credential offered by the Fire Department Safety Officers Association (FDSOA) in cooperation with The Emergency Responder Safety Institute of the Cumberland Valley Volunteer Firefighters Association.

Educational Campaign Materials

This category includes posters, handouts, and charts for use in educational campaigns.

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Roadway Management

The resources provide detail on how roadways are best managed during traffic incidents and planned events. Some resources cover Traffic Incident Management (TIM) teams, which coordinate policy and planning for roadway event/incident response at the leadership level.

Training Support

These resources support training efforts by suggesting learning objectives, providing content, rendering technical assistance, and giving examples of other training implementations.

White Papers

White papers present background information to help understand specific issues in traffic control and traffic incident management. Some explain an organization’s or individual’s position on a particular issue and provide facts to support that position in a reasoned argument.

Wildfire and Wildland-Urban Interface Safety

These resources address the management of moving vehicles, both on and off-road, and the safety of personnel near those vehicles in wildfire and wildland-urban interface contexts. A plan serves as an operational guide when serious dry vegetation fires are encountered.

National Traffic Incident Management (TIM) Responder Training

The 4-hour National Traffic Incident Management (TIM) Responder Training course teaches every responder community how to safely and quickly clear traffic incidents. Efficient incident response requires seamless collaboration and coordination among responders to meet the needs of those injured, ensure the safety of responders and road users, quickly clear the incident, and prevent secondary crashes. As of May 2023, more than 650,000 responders have completed the National TIM Responder Training course. Additionally, many fire, EMS, and law enforcement training academies have incorporated the National TIM Responder Training into their curricula. The National TIM Responder Training course covers notification and scene size-up, safe vehicle positioning, scene safety, command responsibilities, traffic management, special circumstances, and clearance and termination.

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Individuals have the option to attend an in-person 4-hour course or complete an online self-paced training. Some responders will also focus on deeper training (Train the Trainer) that will teach individuals to deliver the National TIM Responder Training course. Whenever possible, responders are encouraged to take the 4-hour, in-person training, which brings law enforcement, fire and rescue, transportation, public works, towing and recovery, public safety dispatch, medical personnel, and other incident responders together to foster relationships and engage in interactive training. Responders can learn how to work together in a coordinated manner-from the moment the first emergency call is made to final scene clearance.

The National Highway Institute (NHI) offers free web-based training (course number 133126A) if individuals would like to learn the content through a single integrated course, with progress at their speed (can stop and resume later). The FHWA piloted the TIM Responder Instructor-Led Virtual Training (ILVT) in the year 2020, recognizing it can reach a much broader audience and enable thousands more responders to obtain this training. Consistent with the in-person training, ILVT participants are encouraged to assume the responsibility of a different responder discipline during the exercises so they may consider what the others need to do and what challenges they face during response operations. The National TIM Responder Train-the-Trainer (T-t-T) program provides course participants with the knowledge and materials necessary to conduct the TIM training of TIM responders in their area or State. Optional hands-on and outdoor activities, including a tabletop exercise, promote communication and collaboration among responder disciplines and provide responders with an opportunity to demonstrate TIM core competencies. Upon completing the T-t-T program, individuals are encouraged to support and then lead two or more training courses annually.

TIM-trained responders can learn how to safely clear incidents while reducing their traffic exposure risks. The TIM Responder Training was developed by responders for responders to ensure the right information is delivered in the right way. At the close of 2022, more than 630,000 emergency responders had been trained, whether through in-person or web-based training. The nation is well on its way to meeting its goal to train 1.3 million first responders.

Additional Resources and Initiatives

High-Visibility Marking Schemes

Visual examples of high-visibility marking schemes applied to the rear and sides of a variety of vehicles, including automobiles, pickup trucks, utility truck vehicles, SUVs, vans, box-type trucks, and large service vehicles are available. A video shows examples of high visibility markings on fire, EMS, and police vehicles, including products for retrofitting fire apparatus built before the NFPA 1901 Standard for Automotive Fire Apparatus went into effect in 2009. The US Fire Administration (USFA) and the International Fire Service Training Association (IFSTA) analyze emergency vehicle visibility and conspicuity with an eye toward expanding efforts in these areas to improve vehicle and roadway operations safety for all emergency responders. Emphasis in this report is placed on passive visibility/conspicuity treatments.

Fatality and Injury Data

A report from the National Fire Protection Association summarizes the data for on-duty deaths of fire-police officers from 1991-2010, including demographic characteristics, nature of injury, and type of duty. A report summarizes the data on fatal occupational injuries in the year 2005, covering all occupational groups. Fatal highway accidents were the most frequent type of fatal workplace event. Data is broken down in several ways, including by type of incident, by industry, by occupation, by demographics, and by State. An ERSI study reports the results of a field experiment to investigate the impacts of emergency vehicle marking color, retroreflectivity level and spatial patterns on drivers’ ability to see emergency responders working near their vehicles was carried out.

Job Performance Requirements

A report from the Emergency Responder Safety Institute details the findings of a panel convened to review typical functions performed by emergency responders at roadway incidents in an effort to develop a set of job performance requirements for the job functions critical to safe emergency operations at roadway incidents.

Training Programs and Instructor Manuals

A document from the Emergency Responder Safety Institute and the Cumberland Valley Volunteer Firemen’s Association is the Instructor Manual for the course “Managing Emergency Incidents on the Roadway.” This program was developed to provide emergency services leaders and instructors with information and tools on traffic incident management that they can use to train other emergency responders in their departments or agencies. A document from the Emergency Responder Safety Institute and the Cumberland Valley Volunteer Firemen’s Association assists public safety agencies in developing traffic control training programs.

Secondary Incident Prevention

This document presents recommendations from a highway responder summit (and subsequent panel review) chaired by the CVVFA that looked into the scope, causes, and potential solutions to the problem of secondary incidents at highway response scenes.

Model SOPs and Operational Guidelines

This document is a model SOP to use as a “go by” when formulating your department’s SOP on the use of safety apparent while working in or near moving traffic. A procedure identifies parking practices for Fire Department apparatus that will provide maximum protection and safety for personnel operating in or near moving vehicle traffic and identifies several approaches for individual practices to keep firefighters safe while exposed to vehicle traffic. This document provides uniform operational guidelines to ensure safe operations by emergency responders dispatched to incidents on limited access highways in the State of New Jersey. These guidelines identify vehicle safe positioning, common general safety, and onsite practices for all emergency responders.

Position Statements and Best Practices

This statement presents the position of the CVVFA Emergency Responder Safety Institute on the use of temporary traffic signs for advance warning at roadway incidents. A handbook from the Federal Highway Administration includes the latest advances in TIM programs and practices across the country and offers practitioners insights into the latest innovations in TIM tools and technologies, including strategic, tactical, and support elements.

National Unified Goal for Traffic Incident Management

A trifold brochure summarizes the National Unified Goal for Traffic Incident Management, how it was developed, and what organizations were involved in developing it. A bookmark publicizes the National Unified Goal for Traffic Incident Management and its strategies.

Common Terminology

This document from the National Traffic Incident Management Coalition provides a common terminology for use by responders during traffic incidents when identifying the location of the incident and the preferred position for arriving response vehicles and equipment.

Benefits of Traffic Incident Management

This paper from the National Traffic Incident Management Coalition summarizes currently available information about the benefits of Traffic Incident Management (TIM), including congestion relief, economic savings, energy conservation and environmental benefits, public health and safety improvements, reduced mortality and morbidity, increased responder safety, reduced public safety personnel requirements, and increased customer satisfaction.

Strategies for Stronger TIM Programs

This document from the National Traffic Incident Management Coalition reviews examples of traffic incident management (TIM) strategies to build stronger state TIM programs. These strategies include interagency strategic planning, statewide best practices guidelines, stronger working partnerships between agencies, performance goals, and workable TIM organizational structures.

Basic Information on Traffic Incident Response

This document from the National Traffic Incident Management Coalition provides basic information about what happens in traffic incident response.

Emergency Traffic Control and Scene Management

These guidelines were established to provide incident responders in the state of New York a uniform approach to emergency traffic control and scene management. The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) is a compilation of national standards for all traffic control devices, including road markings, highway signs, and traffic signals. A document is a recommended example of a traffic control professional equipment list.

Public Service Announcements

Videos are available, including 30 second public service announcements encouraging the public to slow down and move over when they see responders working on the roadway.

First Arriving Apparatus Training

A Power Point program provides training for responders on the first arriving apparatus at a highway incident. The first 15 minutes of an incident often sets the tone for the entire response. This presentation is an excerpt from the University of Extrication “Safe Parking” highway safety program by Ron Moore, Battalion Chief, McKinney, TX FD.

Field Guides

Developed by the Capitol Region Council of Governments Greater Hartford Traffic Incident Management (TIM) Coalition, this field guide provides guidance for traffic incident scene management for emergency response organizations.

Struck-By Incident Perspectives

The Monroe County Intermediate School District (Michigan) in collaboration with the 1st District Court of Monroe, MI produced this public service video describing the experience of a struck by incident from the perspective of a teen driver who hit an emergency responder.

Move Over Laws

Information on state Move Over laws, with code citations and vehicle types covered by the statute, compiled by AAA, is available, along with a Move Over laws factsheet Q&A.

Distracted Driving Presentations

A “How to Give Effective Distracted Driving Presentations” webinar from ResponderSafety.com and EndDD.org, delivered by Joel Feldman, covers strategies for addressing the distracted driving problem, how to talk to students about the risks of distracted driving, and how to craft distracted driving public education programs to reach the wider community.

Post-Incident Support

Information is available about what happens after an emergency responder is struck by a vehicle.

Fire Hero Learning Network

The National Fallen Firefighters Foundation provides FireHeroLearningNetwork.Com to further the organization's mission and the goals of the Everyone Goes Home® program by providing free, vetted training and resources to all members of the fire service. Fire Hero Learning Network delivers critical safety, operations, and community relations fire service training, from the line firefighter through to command and leadership. Unless otherwise noted, the modules on FireHeroLearningNetwork.Com are appropriate for all levels of the fire service, all staffing characteristics (career, volunteer, and combination), all jurisdictions in the United States, and all types of firefighting (including public, private, structure, vehicle, wildland, military, transportation authority, State Fire Marshal, special squad, and academia).

TIM Training Framework

A module provides a framework for TIM training and guidance on the techniques and methods used in TIM training. The TIM training methods discussed are: multiagency, multidisciplinary training; tabletop exercises; situational awareness practice; after action review; and use of online training modules.

Emergency Lighting Technology

A program examines the history of emergency lighting technology and current trends.

Responder Safety Learning Network (RSLN)

ResponderSafety.com and The Responder Safety Learning Network (RSLN) are a project of the Emergency Responder Safety Institute (ERSI), a Committee of the Cumberland Valley Volunteer Fireman's Association. The RSLN is an online training network delivering critical safety training for roadway incident responders. All training is free and delivered 24/7/365 on demand. The self-paced modules include critical components of roadway operations safety in an emergency situation, including: Advance Warning, Blocking, High Visibility, Traffic Control, Public Outreach, Incident Command, and more.

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