By Laura French
SAN DIEGO — A San Diego battalion chief and health and safety officer has been named the 2020 Chief Sandy Davis Safety Officer of the Year by the Fire Department Safety Officers Association (FSDOA).
San Diego Fire-Rescue Department Battalion Chief and Health & Safety Officer (HSO) David Picone became the first certified HSO in the department’s history, and has since developed more than 10 policies specifically governing the health and welfare of department members, according to an FDSOA press release.
Under Picone’s leadership, the department has developed a Behavioral Wellness Program that includes a peer support network and chaplain teams, a family support network, a spousal peer support team, and the first-ever Chaplain Facility Canine Program.
Picone also worked with the risk management division to develop a seamless process for members filing behavioral health and cancer claims, a process that has since been picked up by departments across Southern California.
Outside of the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department, Picone started the first-ever Health & Safety Section of the San Diego County Fire Chiefs Association and has pushed to have an HSO at every department.
The Safety Officer of the Year Award is named for Sandy Davis, a chief of safety who spent his career at the Shreveport (Louisiana) Fire Department and the Louisiana Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, making it his mission to increase firefighter awareness about the importance of wearing PPE.
The award is presented by the FDSOA in conjunction with the IAFC Safety, Health & Survival Section and PPE and safety products company MSA.