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The authors ask you:
During spring 2006, a Fire Department Survey was mailed to the Fire Chiefs of a stratified random sample of 3,000 fire departments across the country to learn about their use of NIOSH information products developed by the Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program (FFFIPP). The survey consisted of 62 items related to standard operating procedures firefighter training, communication of safety practices and investment in and maintenance of safety equipment. The survey results indicate that most officers were familiar with NIOSH and have read a FFFIPP report. It also showed that fire department officers learn about FFFIPP recommendations primarily through NIOSH mailings, trade publications and websites. We wanted to get the results of the evaluation out to the nations’ fire departments, to encourage them to improve their safety practices by incorporating the recommendations of the FFFIPP into their everyday activities. As a result we have approached firefighter trade journals and magazines and are developing articles for publication that will be widely read in the fire service.
Firefighters are called on to rescue people and protect property under serious and hazardous conditions. Some 100 firefighters die each year on duty, and another 80,000 are injured. Recommendations developed through the NIOSH Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program point to a number of safety practices that could improve the health and safety of the nation’s firefighters.
The FFFIPP is a NIOSH program that conducts investigations of firefighter line-of-duty deaths and formulates recommendations for preventing future deaths and injuries. NIOSH also conducts research for prevention of nonfatal injuries. The goals of the program are to:
NIOSH communicates the findings from FFFIPP investigations via publications and presentations and through collaborative research with partner organizations in the fire service. Publications include Line of Duty Death reports, NIOSH Alerts, NIOSH Workplace Solutions, and Health Hazard Evaluation reports.
The publications are disseminated to fire departments through the mail, e-mail, conferences, and other venues and are available on the Internet through the NIOSH home page (http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/fire). The NIOSH reports are produced in both hard copy and electronic formats. Periodically, NIOSH sends a packet of five or six reports to all 30,000 fire departments in the United States. Summaries of the NIOSH reports are also published in fire service trade journals.
The Fire Department Survey used a cross-sectional design with stratified random sampling. We selected a probability sample of 3,000 fire departments representing 10 percent of the approximately 30,000 fire departments in the United States. The sampling frame came from a database maintained by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), supplemented with information from NIOSH’s Division of Safety Research.
The sample includes
Items for the Fire Department Survey questionnaire addressed key questions about the impact of the FFFIPP as related to sentinel FFFIPP recommendations. Performance indicators for the impact of FFFIPP recommendations concerned changes in the knowledge, behavior, attitudes, and safety practices at the management level.
Questionnaire items related to safety practices focused on
Most officers (67.4 percent) are familiar with NIOSH, only about half (53.3 percent) had seen and read a FFFIPP report in the prior 12 months. Slightly more than half (54.3 percent), however, were not familiar with the process NIOSH uses in the FFFIPP to identify incidents to investigate, to conduct investigations, and report findings (Peterson et al, 2008).
Fire departments learn about FFFIPP recommendations through a variety of sources. In order of frequency, these are NIOSH mailings (67.8 percent of all fire departments), trade publications (47.2 percent), links from Web sites such as NFPA and Firehouse (28.2 percent), the NIOSH Web site (24.3 percent), other firefighters or fire departments (22.9 percent), seminars or other training opportunities (16.4 percent), media reports (14.9 percent), state conferences (11.5 percent), national conferences (3.6 percent), and other (1.1 percent).
NIOSH recommendations (NIOSH, 2008) have been used by some 11,000 fire departments to update the content of their training programs on personal protective equipment (PPE), Self-contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA), Personal Alert Safety System (PASS) devices, Incident Command System, traffic hazards, radio communications, and other topics. Fire departments also post information from NIOSH on fire station bulletin boards and brief firefighters about the recommendations during regular staff meetings. The use of NIOSH recommendations often varies by type of department. The departments that are generally most likely to be aware of and following NIOSH recommendations are those that are large (over 50,000 persons protected), urban (at least 825 persons protected per square mile), and/or staffed by career fire fighters.
Key findings from the evaluation are that (1) small, volunteer departments have the greatest challenges to following safety guidelines; (2) existing resources limit safety practices; (3) gaps in knowledge and attitudes limit safety; (4) FFFIPP reports provide useful information but fire departments need additional information and in additional formats; (5) FFFIPP materials need to be better marketed and distributed; and (6) increasing awareness of FFFIPP investigations likely will improve safety practices.
NIOSH is currently preparing a manuscript for Fire Engineering titled “Getting to and from the Scene Safely: Reducing Firefighter Fatalities.” This article is a summary of the survey findings about driver training requirements and the use of seatbelts. This article would highlight NIOSH recommendations about these issues. It would also provide statistics on the number of deaths and injuries due to vehicle accidents.
Also in development is another manuscript intended for FireHouse magazine with
the working title: “Prevent Firefighters’ Deaths by Managing Resources
at the Fire Scene: The Critical Tools of Incident Command, Incident Safety Officers,
and Rapid Intervention Teams.” This article will provide a summary of
findings about the use of FFFIPP-recommended safety practices for effectively
deploying resources at the fire scene. The article will include a discussion
of the types of fire departments (e.g., based on their size, region, and type
of jurisdiction) that are in most and least compliant with recommended practices,
and why the latter say they do not follow the recommended practices.
In addition, we would like to develop an article to report the findings related to cardiovascular health among firefighters. The survey shows that only 7% of the fire departments have a required physical fitness training program, and most fire departments do not require firefighters to be screened for Cardiovascular Disease and its risk factors. We are looking for suggestions and partners to disseminate these survey results more widely.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2006). Fire fighter fatality investigation and prevention program: Program description. Retrieved June 30, 2006, from http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/fire/implweb.html
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). (2008). NIOSH fire fighter fatality investigation and prevention program. Leading Recommendations 1998-2002. (Submitted for NIOSH publication).
Peterson K, Witt M, Olmstead M, Amandus HE, Proudfoot SL, Wassell JT. (2008): Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program: findings from a National evaluation. Submitted for publication, RTI Press.
The findings and conclusions in this poster are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Citations to Web sites external to NIOSH do not constitute NIOSH endorsement of the sponsoring organizations or their programs or products. Furthermore, NIOSH is not responsible for the content of these Web sites.
