01 Program Profile Worksheet | Fire Service Safety Management System

Purpose

Everything else in the package keys off this worksheet. It records the shape of the department, switches each specialty module on or off with a stated reason, sets the jurisdiction, and fixes the baseline against which the Gap Assessment and the audit are scored. Complete it first, review it annually in the management review, and re-run it whenever the department adds or drops a service.

The worksheet is the department’s answer to the “context of the organization” requirement of an OHS management system: understanding the organization, the needs of workers and other interested parties, the legal requirements that apply, and the scope of the system (ISO 45001:2018, cl. 4; CSA Z45001:19). It also supplies the inputs that NFPA 1550 expects for the department’s risk management plan (NFPA 1550, 2024) and that the accreditation model expects in its assessment and planning category (CPSE, 2019, Category 2).

Part A: Department identity

Field	Entry
Department	{{Department}}
Municipality or authority	{{Municipality}}
Province or territory	{{Province}} (your jurisdiction’s section on each topic page: 00 Jurisdiction Index)
Governing statute for the department (fire services provisions)
Fire chief (role, not name) and reporting line to council or board
Staffing model	Career / Volunteer / Composite (career core with volunteer stations) / Paid-on-call
Career members (uniformed)
Volunteer or paid-on-call members
Civilian staff
Bargaining units and associations	{{Union}}; {{Volunteer Association}}
Stations (career / volunteer / mixed)
Population and area protected
Annual call volume by type (fire, medical, MVC, hazmat, rescue, alarms, other)
Dispatch and communications provider
Mutual and automatic aid agreements
Accreditation status (CFAI or other) and date
Existing OHS program documents (list, with dates)
Existing JOHSC (yes/no; number of committees; last meeting; minutes posted?)
Workers’ compensation coverage for volunteers (yes/no; basis)

Part B: Jurisdiction switches

Question	Answer	Consequence
Is the department a provincially regulated workplace under the provincial OHS statute?	Yes for every municipal department; federal only for airport, DND and federal site brigades	Sets which jurisdiction’s section applies on every topic page (J01 OHS Legislation, Regulator and Enforcement)
Number of employees at the largest workplace and across the department (count volunteers as the statute does in your province)		Determines whether an OHS program, JOHSC, safety representative, or policy only is required (thresholds on J03 OHS Policy and Program and J05 Joint Committee and Health and Safety Representative; how volunteers count on J11 Volunteer Firefighters)
Does the department serve a certified aerodrome?		ARFF module on, Transport Canada CARs apply
Does the department operate vessels for firefighting or rescue?		Marine module on, Transport Canada vessel rules apply
Does the department operate RPAS (drones)?		RPAS module on
Does the department provide medical first response (and at what level)?		Infection control module scope; provincial EHS medical oversight
Does the department provide occupational diving or public safety diving?		Diving regulation applies; otherwise surface water and ice only

Part C: Module applicability test

For each module: Required (the department performs or trains for this), Conditional (the department may be called to it under mutual aid or has not formally adopted it but has responded in the last three years), or Not applicable (with the reason and the date reviewed). A Conditional module needs at minimum the awareness-level controls and a written stand-off procedure.

#	Module	Trigger question	Status
1	Respiratory Protection	Members wear SCBA, APR or filtering facepieces for any task	Required for every department
2	Protective Clothing and Equipment (bunker gear care)	Members are issued structural or proximity PPE	Required for every department
3	Decontamination and Contamination Control	Members attend fires or hazmat	Required for every department
4	Occupational Cancer Prevention, Exposure Tracking and Screening	Any fire exposure	Required for every department
5	Medical, Fitness and Wellness	Any operational members	Required
6	Firefighter Rehabilitation	Any incident or training long or hard enough to reach the rehabilitation program’s triggers (cylinder count, work time, heat or cold)	Required
7	Psychological Health and Safety and Peer Support	Any operational members	Required
8	Infection Control and Medical Response Safety	Members have patient contact	Required if medical first response, else Conditional
9	Emergency Operations Safety (IMS, accountability, RIT, mayday, air management)	Structural firefighting	Required
10	Training Safety and Live Fire	Any practical training; live fire evolutions	Required; live fire sub-module if conducted
11	Apparatus, Driving and Roadway Operations	Members drive apparatus or respond on roadways	Required
12	Facilities and Station Safety	Any station or shop	Required
13	Hazardous Materials, CBRN and Energy Hazards	Any hazmat response level; EV, lithium, ESS, solar incidents	Required at awareness/operations for every department; technician sub-module if provided
14	Working at Heights and Fall Protection	Ladders, aerials, roofs, towers, apparatus tops	Required
15	Confined Space	Entry or rescue in confined spaces	Required if a designated rescue service or members enter spaces in stations; else Conditional
16	Trench and Structural Collapse	Trench or collapse rescue	Conditional unless provided
17	Rope Rescue	High-angle or low-angle rope systems	Conditional unless provided
18	Water, Ice and Swiftwater Rescue	Any water or ice response, boats	Required at the level responded to
19	Wildland and Interface	Grass, brush, forest, interface fires	Required for most departments outside dense urban cores
20	RPAS	Drones operated	Conditional unless provided
21	Workplace Violence and Harassment	Any member	Required (statutory in most provinces)
22	Heat, Cold and Weather	Any outdoor work	Required
23	Hearing Conservation	Sirens, pumps, saws, aircraft	Required
24	WHMIS and Hazard Communication	Hazardous products in stations and shops	Required (statutory)
25	Incident Investigation and Learning	Any member	Required (statutory elements)
26	Workplace Inspections	Any workplace	Required (statutory JOHSC duty)
27	Contractor and Mutual Aid Safety	Contractors in stations; aid given or received	Required
28	Marine Firefighting	Vessels operated for firefighting	Conditional
29	Airport Rescue and Firefighting	Certified aerodrome served	Conditional

Part D: Baseline facts for scoring

Collect these before the Gap Assessment so scores rest on data, not recollection.

Item	Last 3 years (by year)	Source
Lost-time injuries and days lost		WCB claims, HR
Medical-aid injuries
Near misses reported
Exposure reports filed (fire, hazmat, infectious)
Vehicle collisions (responding, on scene, returning, non-emergency)
Training injuries
Mayday events and RIT deployments
Right-to-refuse events and outcomes
JOHSC recommendations issued and response times
Regulator orders, inspections and compliance notices
Annual medical completion rate (career / volunteer)
Fit-test currency rate
SCBA annual flow-test completion rate
Bunker gear advanced inspection completion rate
Apparatus annual pump, aerial and ladder test completion
Members current in mandatory training by module
Psychological injury claims and EFAP utilisation (aggregate only)
Members who have left on medical grounds
Volunteer participation records sufficient to support presumptive compensation claims (where the province sets a participation threshold)		Attendance and training logs

Part D2: Psychological safety and learning baseline

The hazards a department can see are only as good as what its members feel safe to report (Edmondson, 1999 DOI; Westrum, 2004 DOI). Collect these alongside Part D so the baseline shows the reporting climate as well as the outcomes.

Item	Last 3 years (by year)	Source
Near-miss and good-catch reports per 100 working fires		Reporting system
Share of reports made anonymously (a high share can signal low trust)		Reporting system
Stop-work calls recorded, and how many were reviewed for learning without discipline		Officer reports, HSO
Concerns raised to officers or the JOHSC, and median days to an answer		Corrective Action Register, JOHSC minutes
Learning reviews held (Tier 1, 2, 3) and recommendations closed		Learning program records
Culture survey: share agreeing “I can raise a safety concern without it costing me”		05 Safety Culture Baseline (run at baseline if never done)

Part E: Output

The completed worksheet produces: the module list for the Gap Assessment (02 Gap Assessment Tool), the seed hazard inventory for the risk register (03 Hazard Profile and Risk Register Method), the indicator baseline (04 Baseline Metrics and Indicator Set), and the record that justifies every “not applicable” when an auditor or regulator asks.

Definitions

Composite department. A department with a career core and volunteer or paid-on-call members, often in different stations.
Conditional module. A specialty the department has not formally adopted but has responded to, or may be called to under mutual aid; it needs at least awareness-level controls and a written stand-off procedure.
Context of the organization. The management-system requirement to understand the organization, its workers’ needs, its legal obligations and the scope of its OHS system.
Module. A switchable program in this package covering one hazard family or function.
Paid-on-call member. A member paid for calls and training attended rather than salaried.
Workplace (for threshold counting). The unit the provincial statute uses to count employees for policy, program and committee thresholds; some statutes count by workplace, others by employer.

Jurisdiction requirements

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.

Topic	What to check in your jurisdiction	Page
OHS Legislation, Regulator and Enforcement	Which OHS statute and regulations govern the department, who enforces them, and when federal law applies instead (airport, defence or other federal fire services)	J01 OHS Legislation, Regulator and Enforcement
OHS Policy and Program	The employee count at which a written OHS policy and a written OHS program are required, whether the count is per workplace or per employer, and the elements the program must contain	J03 OHS Policy and Program
Joint Committee and Health and Safety Representative	The employee count at which a joint committee is required, and a representative below it, and how the committee must be composed	J05 Joint Committee and Health and Safety Representative
Volunteer Firefighters	Whether volunteers count as workers toward the policy, program and committee thresholds, how they are covered for compensation, and any participation condition a volunteer must meet to benefit from the presumptions	J11 Volunteer Firefighters
Infection Control and Medical First Response	The framework that governs fire department medical first response, including medical oversight and clinical scope	J25 Infection Control and Medical First Response
Occupational Diving	Whether the occupational diving rules apply to public safety diving and what they require of a dive team	J29 Occupational Diving
Fire Services Legislation and Firefighter Certification	The fire services statute under which the department is established or registered, and the fire chief’s authority under it	J34 Fire Services Legislation and Firefighter Certification

References

Center for Public Safety Excellence [CPSE]. (2019). Fire and emergency service self-assessment manual (10th ed.). Commission on Fire Accreditation International. https://cpse.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/10th-Edition-FESSAM-Strikethrough-Underline-v.4.pdf

CSA Group. (2019). CSA Z45001:19 (R2023), Occupational health and safety management systems: Requirements with guidance for use (adopts ISO 45001:2018 with Canadian deviations). https://www.csagroup.org/store/product/CSA%20Z45001:19/

Edmondson, A. C. (1999). Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(2), 350–383. doi:10.2307/2666999

International Organization for Standardization. (2018). ISO 45001:2018, Occupational health and safety management systems: Requirements with guidance for use. https://www.iso.org/standard/63787.html

National Fire Protection Association. (2024). NFPA 1550, Standard for emergency responder health and safety (consolidates NFPA 1500, 1521 and 1561). https://www.nfpa.org/codes-and-standards/nfpa-1550-standard-development/1550

Westrum, R. (2004). A typology of organisational cultures. Quality and Safety in Health Care, 13(Suppl. 2), ii22–ii27. doi:10.1136/qshc.2003.009522