“Boots” Campaign Hope to Protect Emergency Responders
The John Petropoulos Memorial Fund (JPMF) has started a new campaign, entitled “Put Yourself in Our Boots,” which endeavours to make workplaces safer for emergency services providers. To that end, the groups has released several public service announcements (PSAs) aimed at educating business owners about unsafe practices that could be hazardous to responders should an emergency arise.
The organization, headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, takes its name from the late Constable John Petropoulos, a Calgary police officer who died in 2000 from brain injuries sustained when he was responding to a reported burglary, and he fell through a false ceiling at a business which had no safety railings or any posted warning as he searched the building. In an effort to prevent that kind of accident from happening again, colleagues and fellow officers started the non-profit society in 2005 and raised money through grants and the sales of pins.
The foundation has produced three 30-second PSA spots to be televised more than 14,000 times across Western Canada over the next 14 months and to be available online in the United States. One spot focuses on EMS providers, another on police officers and the third on firefighters. The spots were filmed in July 2009, and feature actual emergency responders from the Calgary Police Service, Calgary Fire Department and Alberta Health Services EMS — Calgary Zone.
The campaign’s theme focuses on the dangers faced by responders in workplaces by pointing out that, in an emergency, a business becomes the responders’ workplace, albeit without the advantage of familiarity, lights and knowledge of dangers. The tag line in each of the spots is “Put yourself in our boots.”
The goal of the campaign is to create a culture in which workplaces take emergency responders’ safety into account as part of the overall workplace safety system, and to make sure the workplace is as safe as possible for absolutely everyone.
In addition to the PSA, the JPMF campaign also features a DVD, available for sale through the foundation, that provides a number of workplace and traffic safety tips, a safety quiz and interviews for safety training classes. The video asks viewers to consider workplace safety from the perspective of someone entering an unfamiliar workplace after hours, in poor or no lighting and during highly stressful situations, such as during a fire, medical emergency or a crime in progress.
Information about the “Put Yourself in Our Boots,” campaign can be found at http://www.ourboots.ca
Tags: emergency responders safety, Put Yourself in Our Boots, workplace safety
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