Safety 3rd

Safety is important but it is not priority one.

The idea that safety is not the primary concern is part of the the volunteer rescue culture. We want to mitigate risk when ever possible and measure the amount of risk against the reward for taking that risk. If you want to make safety your first priority you would simply stay home in a padded room, drink liquid food from a straw and not drive to the rescue scene.

Performing rescues requires you to accept a level of risk. The Safety Officer on a rescue scene or a training has the job of identifying risk, mitigating risk and informing personnel of risks they may not be aware of. It is not job of the Safety Officer to remove all risk.

The ultimate responsibility of how much risk personnel assume is up to them. This statement assumes that the personnel are operating within safety standards.

Mike Rowe from Dirty Jobs coined the term, Safety Third. I believe he has the best explanation possible to explain why safety should not be your first priority.

Walk me through this “Safety Third” thing. (Full write up by Mike Rowe)