The role of the EMS safety officer

One of the basic duties of an EMS leader is to ensure the well-being of his or her organization and its members. This can be done by fulfilling the duties of the safety officer. In so doing, the leader is, in effect, serving as risk manager, consultant, adviser and coach. In many cases, the EMS manager provides a member with the opportunity to fill these roles by delegating the responsibility and authority of serving as EMS safety officer. The EMS safety officer essentially has two separate functions: that of the ISO and that of the HSO. Typically, the ISO is another trained officer appointed at specific incidents, while the HSO is primarily an administrator. Regardless of which approach is taken, the bottom line is that safety is as important to EMS providers as it is to firefighters--something that is sometimes forgotten along the way.