PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis spoke Thursday morning at the 81st annual Florida Professional Firefighters Convention in Palm Beach Gardens, where he signed HB 929 into law.
The bill, "Firefighter Health and Safety," directs the Division of the State Fire Marshal within the Department of Financial Services to adopt new rules with the intent of improving the health of firefighters, mental and physical, as well as the safety of their profession.
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“We, of course, ask our firefighters to face danger at a moment’s notice. You’ve got to run into the fire, you have to respond to emergencies and you obviously are exposed to a lot of really significant trauma. That takes a toll, not just physically, but mentally and emotionally as well. This bill ensures we recognize and respond to those realities,” DeSantis said. “It updates the Florida Firefighters Occupational Safety and Health Act to reflect the full scope of harm that firefighters face, including occupational diseases and mental health ramifications. This is something that I know people have been working on for a long time, it will create work schedules that limit regular shifts to 42 hours per week to reduce burnout and fatigue and, importantly, it means adding suicide prevention to our safety protocols, treating it with the seriousness it deserves, and taking real steps to prevent those tragedies.”
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HB 929 orders the following changes to state statute (updates bold):
- “(The) implementation and maintenance of policies, procedures, practices, rules, work schedules, and standards that reduce the incidence of firefighter employee accidents, firefighter employee occupational diseases, and firefighter employee fatalities compensable under chapter 112, chapter 440, or otherwise."
- That the Division of the State Fire Marshal “develop a means by which the division can identify individual firefighter employers with a high frequency or severity of work-related injuries, occupational diseases, or suicide; conduct safety inspections of those firefighter employers; and assist those firefighter employers in the development and implementation of firefighter employee safety and health programs.”
- That the Division of the State Fire Marshal “assist in making the firefighter employee place of employment a safer place to work and decreasing the frequency and severity of on-the-job injuries and the frequency of fatalities in such workplace.”
- That the Division of the State Fire Marshal adopt rules relating to the following:
- “Requiring firefighter employers to purchase firefighting gear that does not contain chemical hazards or toxic substances when such gear becomes readily available on the commercial market."
- “Requiring firefighter employers that issue firefighting gear that contains or is manufactured with chemical hazards or toxic substances to provide their firefighter employees notice that the firefighting gear issued may contain or be manufactured with chemical hazards or toxic substances."
- “Encouraging firefighter employers to implement work schedules that do not require a firefighter employee’s normally scheduled shifts to exceed 42 hours per workweek."
- That the Department of Financial Services “adopt reasonable rules for the prevention of accidents, the safety, protection, and security of firefighter employees engaged in interior firefighting, and the prevention of occupational diseases and fatalities."
- That the Division of the State Fire Marshal adopts rules to establish:
- “Employers’ cancer prevention best practices related to personal protective equipment, chemical hazards or toxic substance education regarding personal protective equipment, decontamination, fire suppression equipment, and fire stations.”
- “Employers’ mental health best practices related to resiliency, stress management, peer support, and access to mental healthcare.”
- That the Division of the State Fire Marshal “shall develop a means to identify individual firefighter employers with a high frequency of firefighter employee work-related injuries and suicide.”
- That the Division of the State Fire Marshal shall conduct safety inspections of such firefighter employers “and make recommendations based upon current safety and health practices and to assist such firefighter employers in reducing the number of work-related injuries and suicide.”
- “Each firefighter employer of fewer than 20 firefighter employees with a high frequency or high severity of work-related injuries or a high frequency of work-related fatalities, as identified by the division, shall establish and administer a workplace safety committee or designate a workplace safety coordinator who shall establish and administer workplace safety activities in accordance with rules adopted under this section.”
- That the Division of the State Fire Marshal shall adopt rules “(evaluating) accident prevention, illness prevention, and suicide prevention programs.
- That firefighter employers will be held accountable for failing or refusing “to furnish or adopt any safety device, safeguard, or other means of protection prescribed by division rule (...) for the prevention of accidents, injuries, fatalities, or occupational diseases.”
Watch Thursday’s news conference again in the video player below or by clicking here.