The “New Normal”?
by David Millican, PCI #1006T/EMSCI #343T
Denton (TX) Police Department
IPMBA Education Coordinator
As this year passes by, each month throws us a new curve ball. 2020 is bringing continuous change and with each change comes the “New Normal”. But what is the “New Normal”? It keeps changing. What it was in March is not what it is now and what it is now is not what it will be in December. Social/physical distancing, self-quarantine, stay-at-home and safer-at-home orders, COVID, and mask mandates, along with all the new phrases associated with protesting, the “new normal” is still undefined and maybe never will be.
IPMBA has attempted to stay at the forefront of the many changes happening in the world today. One of IPMBA’s goals – and the cornerstone of our mission – is to offer the best, most complete training for public safety cyclists. In order to achieve this goal, our instructors must conduct courses in a safe and effective manner. To assist them in doing so, IPMBA has developed a wealth of resources to provide guidance to instructors on a wide variety of subjects. Interestingly enough, they can be found on the IPMBA website, under the Resources tab.
Many of the items listed on the Resources tab can assist instructors with putting on a successful course, particularly the ones included under “Instructor Resources”. A new page added under this tab is related to COVID-19 and how to safely conduct an IPMBA course during these challenging times. If you are anticipating hosting, coordinating, or teaching a course this year, I would recommend taking a look at these. You can also find quick reference links to the CDC, WHO, the Public Health Agency of Canada, IACP, NAEMT, and the IAFF.
Guidance for Instructing IPMBA Courses during COVID-19 is a must-read. It is packed with valuable information. Each instructor must first abide by their individual department’s policies as well as local and state/provincial mandates. This document supplements those mandates and provides you with valuable information about the need for PPE and the implementation of universal safety precautions while instructing a very hands-on and interactive course. It also provides invaluable recommendations pertaining to class size, bike-specific training considerations, personnel, PPE, cleaning, and disinfecting.
As with any IPMBA or other course involving physical activity and skill-building, there will always be some type of risk. Our goal is to mitigate those risks as much as possible. While we have always sought ways to mitigate the risk of injury, we must now also seek ways to mitigate the risk of the transmission of infectious diseases, including, but not limited to, COVID-19. These are described in the above-mentioned article. To assist you in your efforts to monitor participant health, a COVID-19 Symptom Recording/Reporting chart has been added to the page; thanks to Eddy Croissant for the inspiration.
In addition, although waivers and liability releases are obviously not preventive, they are informative in that they advise participants about the potential risks involved in a specific activity. We encourage you to incorporate wording for infectious diseases into your course liability release forms. An updated sample waiver has been posted on the COVID-19 resource page for this purpose.
Please feel confident that IPMBA will continue to draw upon the experience of our members as well as collaborate with other organizations in order to provide the safest and most comprehensive training program for public safety cyclists. Check the resource pages regularly; instructor and other resources continue to be added.
As noted on the previous page, Bicycling magazine has ended its partnership with IPMBA, which means the certification applications have been updated. Visit http://ipmba.org/membership/join-renew to download them.
Which leads me to throw in a word from the home office: “Always use the most current paperwork when you submit your course documents”. Hint, Hint!
David has been with the Denton Police Department since 1999 and on the bike team since 2002. He is currently working as a detective in the Criminal Investigations Division. He has completed the Police Cyclist, Public Safety Cyclist II, NO-FATs, MOCC, and MMR-IPMBA Core Skills and Scenarios Clinic. He was certified as an IPMBA Instructor in 2007 and earned the status of Instructor-Trainer in 2017. He is also a TCOLE defensive tactics and firearms instructor and has served as an FTO. He holds a BA in Biology from the University of North Texas and attended paramedic school at North Central Texas College. He has held certifications as a paramedic, swift water rescue, and NASAR SAR Tech II. He was elected to the IPMBA Board of Directors in April 2019 and currently serves as Education Coordinator.
Photo courtesy Mike Wear.
(c) 2020 IPMBA. This article appeared in the 2020 Conference Retrospective issue of IPMBA News.