SWP - Violent Scene Staging

Responding to, approaching, working at and leaving any call where violence is flagged, threatened, possible or happening. This procedure applies to every member, including volunteers responding in personal vehicles, and to every call type: medical, fire, alarm, collision, welfare check and public assistance. It is required by the prevention plan in Workplace Violence and Harassment Program element 5.5 and Policy - Workplace Violence and Harassment clause 5.3, and it is the department’s risk management practice for these calls (CPSE, 2019, criterion 11A.8).

• Assault with hands, feet, improvised objects, edged weapons or firearms by a patient, family member, bystander or crowd.
• Post-reversal agitation after naloxone; intoxication; psychiatric crisis; pain and fear (MLITSD, n.d., GN 6-15).
• Dogs; needles and sharps during a struggle (SWP - Infection Control and Post-Exposure).
• Entrapment inside a room with one exit; crew separated; member alone at the door.
• Encampments and clandestine labs with their own chemical and structural hazards (MLITSD, n.d., GN 6-17, 6-49).
• Active threat or hostile event (NFPA 3000, 2024).
• Psychological injury from the event, whether or not anyone is physically hurt.

• Portable radio per member with the duress function tested at the start of the shift.
• Staging card (program toolkit T3) and referral card on every apparatus and in every responding personal vehicle.
• Flashlight; gloves and eye protection; the medical kit kept at the door, not deep in the room.
• Form - Violence Incident Report in the apparatus and the records system.

• Never fewer than two members approach any flagged call. A single member, including a volunteer in a personal vehicle, stages until the apparatus arrives.
• Every member: orientation to this procedure and the exit word; de-escalation course within 18 months of hire and refreshed every two to three years.
• The officer: supervisor module on receiving reports and holding the debrief.

1. On dispatch, listen for the flag. Caution note, weapon, assault, domestic dispute, psychiatric crisis with a threat, overdose with agitation, hostile caller, or thin information that the officer judges high risk. Dispatch reads any caution flag; if none is read, ask.
2. Decide: stage or proceed. The officer decides before arrival and says it on the radio. If any flag is present, the answer is stage. If information is thin, the default is stage.
3. Stage out of sight and sound. Use the pre-defined staging point where one exists; otherwise at least one block away, out of the line of sight of the address, with the apparatus facing the way out. Lights off where safe. Radio “{{Staging phrase}}” with the location. The crew stays with the apparatus.
4. Wait for “{{Scene safe phrase}}”. Only police on scene declare it. If the officer decides to proceed without it, the officer has a specific reason (for example, police confirm the aggressor has left and the patient is in arrest), tells dispatch, and records the reason on the incident report. Nobody questions a decision to keep staging.
5. Approach as a crew. Everyone out of the apparatus together; nobody goes ahead alone. Park for exit, not for convenience. Note the exits of the building before going in. Carry the radio on the body, not in the bag.
6. At the door. Knock from the side, not in front. Listen. Look at hands first, then the room. If a weapon is seen or suspected, stop; back out; request police. Dogs secured before entry.
7. Inside. Identify two ways out. Position so the patient and bystanders are never between the crew and the exit. One member talks; the others watch the room and the hands. Keep the kit by the door. Nobody sits where they cannot stand quickly.
8. De-escalate. Calm tone, distance, plain language, one speaker, offer choices, do not argue, do not touch without saying so. After naloxone, expect agitation and give space; have the exit planned before the dose (MLITSD, n.d., GN 6-15).
9. Exit word. If any member says “{{Exit word}}”, everyone leaves at once, patient or not, with no discussion until outside. The officer radios dispatch and requests police. Re-enter only after a new decision at step 4.
10. Request police for any weapon, any assault, any threat, a patient who cannot be treated safely, or on any member’s judgment. Say what is happening, where the crew is, and what police will see on arrival.
11. Leaving. Crew count at the apparatus before departing. Account for every member and for the kit.
12. Report and debrief. Every incident, including a threat and including a stage that ended without contact, goes on Form - Violence Incident Report before the end of the shift (volunteers within 24 hours). The officer holds the debrief within the shift and offers the referral card.

• Member assaulted or injured. Exit word; get everyone out; treat outside or in the apparatus; request police and EHS; press the duress function if the crew cannot get out; the officer calls a mayday on the tactical channel if a member is trapped (Emergency Operations Safety Program).
• Weapon produced. Do not negotiate for it. Leave by the nearest exit, together. Report the description to police.
• Crew separated. Each member moves to the apparatus; the officer counts; nobody goes back in alone.
• Duress activation. Dispatch sends police with priority and tells the officer; the officer confirms status when able.
• Needle-stick or body fluid exposure in the struggle. Follow SWP - Infection Control and Post-Exposure the same hour.
• Active threat or hostile event. Stage in the cold zone; operate only in the role the department has adopted in writing with police (NFPA 3000, 2024).
• After the call. Debrief; referral card; peer support offered the same day; the member may stand down for the rest of the shift.

• Form - Violence Incident Report for every incident including threats and stages without contact; the officer’s section completed; the HSO reviews within two working days and the reporter receives written notice of the preventive action inside 10 working days, or sooner where the applicable violence regulation sets a shorter time (J26 Workplace Violence).
• Police file number recorded for any assault.
• Reason recorded on the form whenever the officer proceeded without a police “scene safe”.
• Caution flag requested for the address or person where the report supports it.
• Learning triage assigns the After the Call tier; a violence injury is Tier 2 (Incident Investigation and Learning Program).

• Signed off by the company officer at orientation and after each annual scene safety refresher; recorded in the program’s training sign-off (toolkit T8).
• Scenario practice with a staged call and a room that changes, annually.
• Reviewed by the Medical First Response team after any assault with injury, any Tier 2 event under this procedure, and at least every three years, with a learning-team session of members who have used it.

• Workplace Violence and Harassment Program; Policy - Workplace Violence and Harassment
• Form - Violence Incident Report; Checklist - Workplace Violence and Harassment
• SWP - Infection Control and Post-Exposure; Emergency Operations Safety Program; Hazardous Materials, CBRN and Energy Hazards Program; Psychological Health and Safety and Peer Support Program

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.

Ontario Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development [MLITSD]. (n.d.). Firefighter guidance notes (Section 21 Advisory Committee; individual notes revised to 2026). https://www.ontario.ca/document/firefighter-guidance-notes