Checklist - Facilities and Station Safety

This program checklist audits Facilities and Station Safety Program (FSSMS-PRG-10), Policy - Facilities (FSSMS-POL-13), SWP - Diesel Exhaust and Station Zoning, SWP - Lockout and Shop Safety and the station-level use of SWP - Workplace Inspection: program governance and inspection; diesel exhaust; zoning and contamination control; the fill station and pressure equipment; shop safety; lockout; electrical safety; falls, stairs, ladders and pole holes; fire safety, kitchens and emergency plans; sleep, fitness and indoor air; the environmental register; generators, fuel and the facilities agreement; psychological safety and the accountability loop. The question in every item is whether each station, shop and training ground is run as a workplace, and whether members live and work in clean air, behind locks that hold and in buildings they have been told the truth about.

It is the program team’s instrument for the annual appraisal and for spot-audits. In the annual internal audit it deepens category 9 (9.4 station zoning, 9.7 diesel exhaust), category 15 (15.1 station fire, evacuation and emergency plans), category 18 (18.1 inspection schedule and checklists) and the facilities service level items in category 17 (02 Audit Checklist Master Index). The system-level inspection items stay in Checklist - Monitoring, Inspection and Indicators. The audit plan states once whether these items are scored on the spare row 21 of the roll-up worksheet or inside the categories they deepen, so no item is counted twice. Audit at least one volunteer station and one career station each year.

The CFAI column crosswalks each item to the 10th edition performance indicator where one applies (CPSE, 2019); core competencies are marked CC.

1. Score D, I and E for each item 0 to 3, then derive the item score (01 Audit Program section 5).
2. Both-required evidence codes (D+I, D+O, O+I) need each type before I can exceed 1.
3. Weights C3, K2, S1; L items must score at least 2 or the checklist fails its legislated floor.
4. Score = sum(weight x item score) / sum(weight x 3). The effectiveness index uses E.
5. Record a finding, owner and due date for every item below 3, and give each finding its priority on the one scale: a major nonconformity is P1 (Imminent) or P2 (Serious) by risk, a minor nonconformity P3 (Moderate), an opportunity for improvement P4 (Improvement). Findings go to the Corrective Action Register within five working days.

Loop test. Pick a station hazard reported in the last year, such as an exhaust fan that did not start when the hose was connected. Trace it: the interim control the same day; the register entry within five working days as a P2 with facilities as owner; a reply to the reporter within five working days; the same controller checked at other stations; repair and capture reverified inside the 30-day P2 closure date; a fan-start line added to the monthly checklist; a change notice to every station; closure verified and reported to the JOHSC at its next meeting.

Answer from observation or interview only; record the evidence.

1. Watch an apparatus start (a morning check or a call): was the hose on before the engine started, did the fan run, did anything idle inside?
2. Walk the zones with the station officer: where is PPE right now that should not be, and are the doors between zones closed?
3. Ask a technician and two members: “When did you last stop a job, refuse to go under something or report a hazard in this workplace? What happened, and did you hear back?” Record whether each names a person and a response, and whether they know their building’s radon and asbestos results.

1. (Station officer) Show me the last 12 monthly inspections and what happened to each finding.
2. (Station officer) What do you do when the exhaust system fails?
3. (Technician) Show me the lockout procedure for the compressor and the lift, and the lock register.
4. (Facilities) Show me this station’s environmental register and the last capture verification.
5. (Member) Where does your gear live between calls, and where does it dry?
6. (Member at a volunteer hall) Who inspects this hall, and when did you last see the result?
7. (Health and safety officer) Show me the lockout audit and the annual full inspections.
8. (Facilities) Show me the agreement’s turnaround data for P1 items.
9. (Observe) A technician starting a job on apparatus air or hydraulics.
10. (Observe) The bay, the gear room and the kitchen at shift change.
11. (Everyone) Who would you tell about a hazard in this workplace, and what would happen?
12. (Everyone) What one thing about this station would you fix first?

Report by section, never as one number. Findings go to the Corrective Action Register; the program manager owns them until verified closed.

This chapter relies on the following legal requirements, which differ by province and territory. Check your jurisdiction’s section on each topic page before adopting it.