Factors Implicated in Safety-related Firefighter Fatalities

Firefighting is wrought with risk, as 80–100 firefighters (FFs) die on the job each year in the United States. Many of the fatalities have been analyzed by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to determine contributing factors. The purpose of this study is to determine variables that put FFs at risk for potentially preventable workplace mortality such as use of personal protective equipment (PPE), seat belts, and appropriate training/fitness/clearance for duty. The NIOSH FF Fatality Database reports from 2009 to 2014 were analyzed. Data including age, gender, years on the job, weather, other calls on the same shift, and department type were compared between FFs who employed PPE, seat belts, or wellness/fitness and those who did not. A second group of FFs was determined by NIOSH to have inexperience, lack of training, or inappropriate clearance for duty implicated in their fatalities. Comparisons for the second group were between those whose department used training and safety-related standard operating protocols and those who did not. In 84/176 deaths, PPE/seat belts/fitness was implicated in the fatality. Lack of PPE was more likely on clear days (P = .03) but less likely on cloudy and windy days (P
Source: Journal of Burn Care and Research - Category: Rehabilitation Tags: Original Articles: 2016 ABA Papers Source Type: research