Ops-02 - Use and Wearing of Traffic Safety Vests During Incidents

Mount Pleasant Volunteer Fire Department

Standard Operating Guidelines

Subject: Use of Traffic Safety Vests During Incidents SOG # Ops-02 Initiated 03/09/2020 Approved: Fire Chief Edward Cullifer

Overview

1.     This policy requires all personnel who are operating at or are on the scene of incidents that occur on highways and streets to wear a minimum level of protective clothing with reflective striping to ensure their visibility.

2.     The intent of this policy is to ensure the visibility and enhance the personal safety of all personnel while they are present on incident scenes by requiring them to wear protective clothing with reflective surfaces. Personnel must wear an approved traffic safety vest when operating on incident scenes that occur on highways and streets.

Purpose

1.     It is this policy’s purpose to require all personnel who are operating at or are present on the scene of incidents that occur on a highway or street to wear protective clothing and/or approved traffic safety vests with reflective striping to ensure their safety.

2.     This policy applies to all Mount Pleasant Volunteer Fire Department personnel when they are operating at or are present on the scene of incidents that occur on highways or streets.

Policy

1.     It is the goal of the Fire Chief to implement and enforce policies, procedures and guidelines that ensure the safety of all personnel. Personnel who are operating at or are on the scene of incidents occurring on highways or streets must wear a traffic safety vest specified in this policy. The requirement to wear appropriate garments with a reflective surface is intended solely to increase safety by improving the visibility of personnel.

a.     All personnel must wear a traffic safety vest if they are operating at or are present on an incident on a highway or street, regardless of the incident type or their role on the incident scene. Each position on all apparatus has a traffic safety vest. If traffic safety vests are unavailable, personnel must wear a structural firefighting protective coat or a sector/command vest with reflective striping.

b.     The only time a traffic safety vest will not be worn is during active extrication operations or fire attack operations as the vests are not flame retardant. This includes but is not limited to structure fires, vehicle fires and wildland fires.

Responsibilities

1.     The Incident Commander is responsible for ensuring that all personnel wear a traffic safety vest, a structural firefighting coat or other approved reflective garment.

2.     All personnel who are on the incident scene must wear the approved traffic safety vest as determined by the Incident Commander.

3.     All operational personnel will be issued a traffic safety vest meeting the 2006 ANSI/ISEA 207-standard for High Visibility Public Safety Vests.