The U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) sponsors research and studies to help keep Emergency Medical Services (EMS) personnel and their patients safe and help prepare fire departments for special EMS operations.
Victims of human trafficking might look like many of the people you help as a member of the fire and emergency services—and in some cases, they are. This collection of resources will help you learn about the crime and be prepared to help prevent human trafficking and treat victims.
If you see signs of human trafficking, report it to law enforcement online, or call 866-347-2423.
Human trafficking is the use of force, fraud or coercion to exploit someone for labor or commercial sex. Any minor exploited for commercial sex is a victim of human trafficking.
Check out a brief training bulletin on human trafficking PDF 113 KB and get a better sense for the problem in the U.S. with these materials from the DHS:
You can download or order free materials available in several languages from DHS that:
Visit the Blue Campaign Resource Catalog to order or download materials to share with fellow first responders.
There are many different responsibilities for EMS responders. One of the primary responsibilities is being prepared to respond to all hazards. Rather than starting from scratch to create policies and protocols, consider using these guidelines.
Interim Guidance for EMS Systems and 9-1-1 Public Safety Answering Points for Management of Patients with Known or Suspected Ebola Virus Disease in the United States
USFA and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) studied how EMS respond to events that might have a large number of patients or victims.
After the study, we published a guide for how EMS and fire departments can best respond to these “mass care incidents.” The mass care guide PDF 1.5 MB will help you:
Medical directors provide oversight and medical direction to ensure that effective emergency medical care is provided to patients. In addition to providing medical oversight and direction, EMS medical directors support EMS personnel and first responders through training, protocol development and resource deployment advice.
We’ve created an overview of key roles and responsibilities to assist current and prospective medical directors in performing their important duties. If you’re a physician serving a hospital-based, volunteer, fire, or private EMS department, download the handbook PDF 2.5 MB to learn more about:
To complement the handbook, we collaborated with the International Association of Fire Chiefs to create an online training program.
USFA partnered with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) on an ambulance and EMS vehicle safety study to reduce vehicle-related injuries to responders.
The project outfitted an ambulance with two types of vehicle occupant restraints. Study objectives included:
You can read more about this project on the NIOSH website.
The safety and health of EMS responders is a critical issue for both fire departments and third service EMS providers.
USFA is working with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Office of Health Affairs to study EMS responder health and safety issues, including:
Study results and safety guidance will be published in 2017.
