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International Comparison of Fire Department Injuries

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Abstract

Firefighting remains a dangerous profession. The objective of this study was to compare injury rates among career and volunteer fire departments internationally. Methods: Injury and staffing data were collected for 2004–2009. All reported, lost-time, and activity-specific injury rates were calculated for fireground, medical, training and physical exercise activities. Injury rates were also adjusted for number of fireground and medical responses, and average annual training hours. Injury rates were generally higher in the U.S. than in Commonwealth nation and Japanese fire departments. Lost-time injury rates varied markedly among fire departments, from 0.6 (95% CI 0.4–0.9) to 23.5 (95% CI 22.4–22.7) injuries per 100 firefighters per year. The greatest pair-wise differences in lost-time injury rates were seen in the fireground and medical call activities, and these differences persisted when the rates were adjusted by the number of firefighters responding to fireground and medical incidents, respectively. Injury rates vary substantially across fire departments, suggesting that substantial improvements could result from adoption of more optimal health and safety approaches.

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Acknowledgments

We wish to thank the partnering fire department administrations and unions for their willingness to share their expertise and data. In addition, we would like to thank the Metro Chiefs, in particular Russ Sanders, and the International Association of Fire Firefighters for their support of the study. Casey Grant and the panel members of the Fire Protection Research Foundation of the National Fire Protection Association provided essential review of the study design, results and interpretation.

Funding

This study was supported by FEMA Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program—Fire Prevention and Safety grant # EMW-2008-FP-01536.

Conflict of interest

None.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, University of Arizona, 1295 N. Martin Ave., Tucson, AZ, 85724-5210, USA

    Jefferey L. Burgess, Michael Duncan, Joshua Mallett, Bonnie LaFleur & Sally Littau

  2. Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, University of Arizona, Northwest Fire District, Tucson, AZ, 85743, USA

    Michael Duncan

  3. Shimane University School of Medicine, 1060 Nishi-Kawatsu cho, Matsue, Shimane, 690-8504, Japan

    Kuninori Shiwaku

Authors
  1. Jefferey L. Burgess
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  2. Michael Duncan
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  3. Joshua Mallett
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  4. Bonnie LaFleur
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  5. Sally Littau
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  6. Kuninori Shiwaku
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jefferey L. Burgess.

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Burgess, J.L., Duncan, M., Mallett, J. et al. International Comparison of Fire Department Injuries. Fire Technol 50, 1043–1059 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10694-013-0340-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10694-013-0340-y

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