Page 39 - CPAAC-Spring2019

CPAAC SPRING 2019

First Responders face unique professional challenges. These professions require a person to possess a
myriad of skills and personality traits and to use them in a variety of challenging and often threatening
situations. As a result there are many well-known statistics demonstrating the “cost of doing business”
in this industry which manifest themselves in a variety of injuries, ailments and other adverse outcomes
experienced by first responders that when left unmitigated result in increased risk and liability claims.

Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) services are preventative in nature and represent the
standard of care in the industry for officer-involved shootings, employee death and other job-related
traumas. The Standard of Care of properly administered CISM programs approaches this inherent risk
proactively addressing not only the aftermath of exposure but preventative education to increase
psychological resilience, optimize performance and enhance career wellness thereby reducing frequency
and severity of job-related injuries and illness.

This presentation will briefly address the all too frequent challenges faced by HR professionals and Risk
Managers in preserving our first responder resource from the many liabilities imposed by their jobs. We
will outline the Standard of Care in CISM programs and address the challenges associated with
establishing such programs among our high-risk employee groups.

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