Measure Your Fire Department’s Safety Culture with FOCUS 3.0

The culture around safety in any organization is a strong predictor of injuries and important organizational outcomes, such as burnout, job satisfaction and work engagement. The Center for Firefighter Injury Research & Safety Trends(FIRST) at the Drexel University Dornsife School of Public Health developed the Fire Service Organizational Culture of Safety (FOCUS) survey to help departments measure and improve their safety culture.

To date, over 500 fire departments and 70,000 firefighters have used FOCUS to assess their safety culture. With continued funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA’s) Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program, the FIRST Center is once again bringing the FOCUS 3.0 survey to the U.S. fire and rescue service.

Analysis of FOCUS beta-test data revealed that combination and volunteer departments had higher management commitment to safety scores than their career counterparts. More combination and volunteer departments are needed to participate in FOCUS so this phenomenon can be better understood.

The FIRST Center also received funding through FEMA’s Assistance to Firefighters Prevention and Safety Grants to create Combination and Volunteer Assessment of Safety (CANVAS). CANVAS builds on previous FIRST Center safety culture work in its FOCUS portfolio.

Departments of all sizes use their FOCUS data to advocate for staffing, gear, apparatus and behavioral health resources. Learn more about what fire departments are saying about the data in the testimonials on FIRST’s Department Success Stories page.

If your fire department would like to participate, please fill out this form to enroll in FOCUS. Please contact the FIRST Center’s FOCUS team at focus@drexel.edu with any questions.