How a major metro fire department saved money, increased time for hands-on training and greatly improved documentation and record-keeping of all training by utilizing an online training and training management program.

Jacksonville Fire & Rescue Department (JFRD) serves over 800 square miles, employs over 1,300 personnel at 57 stations, and responds to over 90,000 incidents annually. JFRD has been recognized as the originators of many of today’s accepted and widely practiced rescue service methods. Given their leadership and progressive approach, it is no surprise that JFRD was one of the original fire departments to implement a web-based training and training management system.

Problems with Traditional Training Methods:

Ensuring that JFRD’s 1,300 firefighters and EMT’s were receiving and completing the required EMS continuing education (CE) hours as well as NFPA, OSHA and HR training was not only difficult but nearly impossible. One of the most difficult issues JFRD training personnel faced was the documentation and record-keeping of training tasks.

Past forms of training included showing EMS CE videos on a public access cable channel for personnel to view from the station, having field training officers move from station to station providing training lectures, and having on-duty personnel leave the station to attend training classes at the JFRD training academy.

While many of these past training methods were effective, accurate documentation of who had watched the videos or attended the training lectures proved extremely difficult. Furthermore, the scheduling of training in a way that would allow everyone to attend and receive training was an ongoing logistical nightmare.

The staff at JFRD began looking for a better way to consistently deliver high quality training as well as a solution to better track, manage and document who had received training.

The Move to Online Training & the Results:

JFRD transitioned into online training using a provider of EMS continuing education to fulfill the required CE hours for all of their EMTs. Although this was a step in the right direction, their original vendor proved unable to solve many of their problems. In the fall of 2004, JFRD began using TargetSafety’s online training and training management system. It quickly became apparent that not all online training vendors are created equal and that EMS continuing education courses are only a small portion of what is possible with an online training solution.

TargetSafety not only provides JFRD with 60 hours of online EMS continuing education but also offers fire-specific courses endorsed by the NFPA, as well as human resource topics, OSHA courses, HazMat refresher and Terrorism training all in one package. One of the greatest benefits of TargetSafety over JFRD’s previous vendor is a suite of management tools to easily track, manage, assign, document, and keep records of all training automatically. Furthermore, JFRD can customize each TargetSafety training course by adding specific policies and procedures into each course. Training personnel can also develop custom courses, reducing the amount of lecture time required and allowing more time for additional hands-on training.

With TargetSafety, JFRD has been able to maintain a better balance of training. By allowing personnel to complete EMS continuing education training as well as NFPA, OSHA and human resource training online when and where they have time around their own unique schedules, JFRD training personnel can now devote even more time to essential hands-on training tasks.

Acceptance:

Since implementing TargetSafety’s training and training management solutions in November of 2004, JFRD personnel have completed over 62,000 training courses. Additionally JFRD firefighters have been very receptive to TargetSafety’s course content and format, rating the courses an average of 4.1 out of 5, a score of 5 equal to outstanding.

Significant Cost Savings:

TargetSafety allows access to all training courses anytime and personnel can access training from any computer with an Internet connection, allowing training to be completed at the station during on-shift downtime or even from home. This has allowed JFRD to train more efficiently and has resulted in significant cost savings. JFRD has reduced the costs associated with travel and overtime as well as the administrative costs related to delivering and documenting traditional training.

JFRD has realized a cost of training of less than $4 per training hour, significantly lower than past training methods. While utilizing TargetSafety’s services, the city of Jacksonville has reported a significant and substantial cost savings that has greatly surpassed their expectations.

“Perhaps the most valuable benefit of our program is the record-keeping system that tracks all training - automatically. We have also been impressed with the response from the TargetSafety client services team whenever an issue arises requiring our attention.”

“TargetSafety's unique position as the only web-based training firm partnered with the National Fire Protection Association makes them the only logical choice for a fire service organization. We are proud of the partnership the JFRD has formed with TargetSafety and look forward to a long and mutually rewarding relationship.”

Captain Nick Tison
Jacksonville Fire & Rescue
Jacksonville, FL