P-409 Critical Incident Stress

Issued By: OPERATIONS SUPPORT (P. MacKenzie)
Approved By: R. Hollett, Acting Chief Director
Date of Issue: 1997/09/03
Revision Date: 1999/11/03; 2005/12/15; 2006/04/25; 2009/02/16

PURPOSE: 

The purpose of this policy is to reduce the impact from stress reactions due to an exposure at a critical incident.

OBJECTIVE:

To ensure employees are not overly stressed after being exposed to critical incidents.

SCOPE:

This policy applies to career and volunteer fire fighters.

POLICY: 

Critical Incident Stress is the result of facing and attempting to deal with an event or situation beyond the normal coping capacity of human beings. To ignore Critical Incident Stress (CIS) means running the risk of losing effective members and impairing the ability of those remaining to work effectively. The stress reactions can be physical, cognitive (thought), emotional or any combination of these. The more intense reactions will interfere with an emergency responder’s ability to function at the scene and can later affect the person’s personal life. Critical Incident Stress reactions are normal and expected. Some factors that can affect the severity of the stress reactions are the responder’s role at the scene and the responder’s emotional state.

Successive incidents which individually cause the emergency responder mild to moderate stress may, when they occur together over a short period of time, cause significant stress reactions. The object of this procedure is to minimize the effects of stress related injuries.

Interventions can be in the form of Defusing, Debriefing, Follow-up and One-on-One Peer Support.

THE CRITICAL INCIDENT

Fire and Emergency members who respond to incidents that expose them to unusually strong emotional involvement may qualify for Critical Incident Stress Interventions. The following are some examples of incidents that will initiate an intervention call out.

(1)    Serious injury or death of a Halifax Regional Fire & Emergency Member or a member of their family;
(2)    A mass casualty incident with serious injury or death;
(3)    Serious injury or death of a civilian following fire department operations;
(4)    Death or serious injury of a child;
(5)    Dealing with casualties known to emergency responders;
(6)    Events that seriously threaten the lives of the responders;
(7)    Emergency Operations that continue over an extended period of time.

 Initiations of intervention calls are not limited to the above examples.

PROCEDURE:

Critical Incident Stress Management Team contact phone numbers will be maintained and will be posted on the Occupational Health and Safety Bulletin Boards. If a situation arises that may require intervention services, contact the Coordinator or any of the confidential Peer Referral Agents. 

The Referral Agents will designate an acceptable site for the intervention to take place. The Chief Officer or designate should attempt to isolate the affected individuals until they can meet with the Referral Agent.

Critical Incident Interventions are not an operational critique of Fire & Emergency operations at the incident. The Critical Incident Intervention process provides formats in which member(s) can discuss their feelings and reactions, and thus, reduce stress resulting from exposure to Critical Incidents. All interventions will be strictly confidential. Members directed to attend the intervention should attend, although participation in the process will be considered voluntary; Attendance in any intervention will be restricted to those members who were directly involved in the incident. Individuals involved shall receive intervention service regardless of rank either as a group or on a one on one basis.

Defusing, or on-scene interventions may be conducted when the situation warrants. These will be conducted within 24 hours after the incident and should encourage a brief discussion of the events. This type of intervention will help reduce acute stress. It has also been found that a well-run defusing session will make for a more supportive formal debriefing session if required by the exposed member.
Formal Debriefings, if required, will be conducted approximately 24 to 48 hours after the incident by the Referral Agent. The Debriefing forum is structured to provide emergency responders with the opportunity to express their feelings and learn ways of coping with the adverse effects of an incident. A list of coping techniques for managing stress will be passed out at interventions. Anyone who feels that they may require a follow-up to the incident on an one-on-one basis, may contact the Referral Agent.

POLICY REVIEW:

This policy shall be reviewed when/if there are changes/amendments to the procedure for reducing stress after critical incidents.