TY - JOUR
T1 - Establishing a proactive safety and health risk management system in the fire service
AU - Poplin, Gerald S.
AU - Pollack, Keshia M.
AU - Griffin, Stephanie
AU - Day-Nash, Virginia
AU - Peate, Wayne F.
AU - Nied, Ed
AU - Gulotta, John
AU - Burgess, Jefferey L.
N1 - Funding Information:
There are a number of limitations to the RM process carried out in this study. The RM process within TFD was undertaken with financial support limited to the duration of the grant’s funding cycle and was supported by a team of academic researchers. Not every fire department has a close partnership with academia, thus the generalizability of these findings is limited in regards to replication within the fire service. Many RM processes are focused on critical controls designed to focus on the most catastrophic (and potentially fatal) hazards. In the current study, however, prevention efforts were focused on hazards resulting in frequent injuries and not just those that were life threatening. While the current study focused on interventions generally specific to one task or operation, other RM approaches can help reduce the risk from single, catastrophic events (e.g., flashovers, roof collapse, etc.), or even specific injury types, such as back sprains resulting from the lifting and transfer of patients. A benefit of RM is that each organization can choose approaches that the membership believes will yield the greatest benefit. In the UK, RM is a mandated component of fire service policies and practices, and is often permeated throughout the ranks. The TFD RM process could eventually reach this level of incorporation into policies and practices and distribution throughout all firefighters, but necessity dictated that the initial focus be limited to specific activities and a smaller group of participants. The timing of this study also took place during the US recession of 2007-2009 when cities and municipalities were undergoing significant budget challenges, which limited the number of RM controls that could be implemented. Finally, firefighters were not randomly selected to participate in the RM process, therefore raising questions regarding potential selection bias. Although a diverse sample of firefighters was sought to participate in the RM process, firefighters that responded to a large number of fires were selected for the fireground group; stations with a high volume of medical calls for the patient transfer group, and so on. While acknowledging that intentional selection of fire stations was a component of this project, this strategy is believed to have enhanced the project, since individuals with high exposure and experience to certain tasks were recruited for the RM process.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Poplin et al.; licensee BioMed Central.
PY - 2015/4/19
Y1 - 2015/4/19
N2 - Background: Formalized risk management (RM) is an internationally accepted process for reducing hazards in the workplace, with defined steps including hazard scoping, risk assessment, and implementation of controls, all within an iterative process. While required for all industry in the European Union and widely used elsewhere, the United States maintains a compliance-based regulatory structure, rather than one based on systematic, risk-based methodologies. Firefighting is a hazardous profession, with high injury, illness, and fatality rates compared with other occupations, and implementation of RM programs has the potential to greatly improve firefighter safety and health; however, no descriptions of RM implementation are in the peer-reviewed literature for the North American fire service. Methods: In this paper we describe the steps used to design and implement the RM process in a moderately-sized fire department, with particular focus on prioritizing and managing injury hazards during patient transport, fireground, and physical exercise procedures. Hazard scoping and formalized risk assessments are described, in addition to the identification of participatory-led injury control strategies. Process evaluation methods were conducted to primarily assess the feasibility of voluntarily instituting the RM approach within the fire service setting. Results: The RM process was well accepted by the fire department and led to development of 45 hazard specific-interventions. Qualitative data documenting the implementation of the RM process revealed that participants emphasized the: value of the RM process, especially the participatory bottom-up approach; usefulness of the RM process for breaking down tasks to identify potential risks; and potential of RM for reducing firefighter injury. Conclusions: As implemented, this risk-based approach used to identify and manage occupational hazards and risks was successful and is deemed feasible for U.S. (and other) fire services. While several barriers and challenges do exist in the implementation of any intervention such as this, recommendations for adopting the process are provided. Additional work will be performed to determine the effectiveness of select controls strategies that were implemented; however participants throughout the organizational structure perceived the RM process to be of high utility while researchers also found the process improved the awareness and engagement in actively enhancing worker safety and health.
AB - Background: Formalized risk management (RM) is an internationally accepted process for reducing hazards in the workplace, with defined steps including hazard scoping, risk assessment, and implementation of controls, all within an iterative process. While required for all industry in the European Union and widely used elsewhere, the United States maintains a compliance-based regulatory structure, rather than one based on systematic, risk-based methodologies. Firefighting is a hazardous profession, with high injury, illness, and fatality rates compared with other occupations, and implementation of RM programs has the potential to greatly improve firefighter safety and health; however, no descriptions of RM implementation are in the peer-reviewed literature for the North American fire service. Methods: In this paper we describe the steps used to design and implement the RM process in a moderately-sized fire department, with particular focus on prioritizing and managing injury hazards during patient transport, fireground, and physical exercise procedures. Hazard scoping and formalized risk assessments are described, in addition to the identification of participatory-led injury control strategies. Process evaluation methods were conducted to primarily assess the feasibility of voluntarily instituting the RM approach within the fire service setting. Results: The RM process was well accepted by the fire department and led to development of 45 hazard specific-interventions. Qualitative data documenting the implementation of the RM process revealed that participants emphasized the: value of the RM process, especially the participatory bottom-up approach; usefulness of the RM process for breaking down tasks to identify potential risks; and potential of RM for reducing firefighter injury. Conclusions: As implemented, this risk-based approach used to identify and manage occupational hazards and risks was successful and is deemed feasible for U.S. (and other) fire services. While several barriers and challenges do exist in the implementation of any intervention such as this, recommendations for adopting the process are provided. Additional work will be performed to determine the effectiveness of select controls strategies that were implemented; however participants throughout the organizational structure perceived the RM process to be of high utility while researchers also found the process improved the awareness and engagement in actively enhancing worker safety and health.
KW - Fire service
KW - Risk management
KW - Safety and health
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84928329347&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84928329347&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1186/s12889-015-1675-8
DO - 10.1186/s12889-015-1675-8
M3 - Article
C2 - 25909357
AN - SCOPUS:84928329347
SN - 1471-2458
VL - 15
JO - BMC public health
JF - BMC public health
IS - 1
M1 - 407
ER -