Daniel Krier
State Fire Marshal

Amanda Swenson
Chief Deputy State Fire Marshal

Jon Wolfgram
Deputy Director of Office of Pipeline Safety

The Minnesota Department of Public Safety (DPS) has an initiative to evaluate the work we do, specifically to measure the impact of the services we provide. Basically, we are asking ourselves, “How do we know people are safer as a result of the services we provide?"

To answer this question and properly evaluate our work, DPS directors and leadership hold regular meetings with a consulting group from another state agency. The principals guiding our evaluation/assessment fall under the category of results-based accountability (RBA). This work will be crucial in helping the State Fire Marshal (SFM) division and the Minnesota Office of Pipeline Safety (MnOPS) identify how we make our state a safer place for all. Additionally, this initiative will help us to identify areas in need of improvement within our divisions.
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Sometimes, it's hard to see the success and progress of one's work when it seems like the workload continues to grow. Or maybe the work is put on hold when the tones sound in-station, or the pager goes off. In the SFM and MNOPS world, emergency re-prioritization of work takes many forms, such as legislative committee hearings, but can include literal emergencies like major gas leaks or a fatal fire.

As a leadership team, we are constantly supporting and reminding each other to re-group following the emergency and being intentional about completing the RBA assignments. Expect more to come from our agency upon completion of this project. Keeping Minnesota safe is our highest priority, and we will make sure the work we do makes that impact.