6741 Ch 1 PowerPoint

1. Occupational Safety and Health
for Emergency Services
Fourth Edition
Chapter 1 — Introduction to Emergency Services Occupational
Safety and Health

2. At the conclusion of this chapter you will be able to:
‣ Discuss the history of occupation safety and health in
industry.
‣ Discuss the history of emergency services safety and
health programs.
‣ Identify, through the use of historical data, the safety and
health problem among emergency services occupations
today.
‣ Describe the efforts that have been made to address the
safety and health problem among emergency services
occupations.
Objectives

3. ‣ Describe the 16 Firefighter Life Safety Initiatives.
‣ List the national agencies that produce annual injury
and fatality reports for emergency services.
‣ Identify the information that can be obtained from
annual injury and fatality reports.
‣ Discuss the culture of the emergency services and the
need for change.
‣ Discuss how the changes to emergency services
safety and health are working.
Objectives

4. Firefighting
‣ Described as one of the most dangerous occupations
‣ Acute and chronic injuries
‣ Illnesses and death
‣ Exposed to a wide range of hazards
‣ Chemicals and carcinogens
‣ Building collapses
‣ Smoke
‣ Heat
‣ Physical and emotional stress

5. Emergency Medical Services (EMS)
‣ Face many of the same hazards as fire fighters
‣ Additional exposures
‣ Infectious diseases
‣ Most fire fighters are responsible for providing
prehospital care.
‣ Emergency services must establish a comprehensive
occupational safety and health program.
‣ Focused on fire and medical emergencies

6. History of Occupational Safety
and Health in Industry (1 of 3)
‣ Many important contributors
‣ Historic events highlighted the need for safety
‣ Triangle Shirtwaist Company factory fire
‣ Studies of sweatshops and “dusty trades”
‣ Multitude of industry programs
‣ Regulations and standards for equipment and procedures
‣ Inspections for safe operation
‣ Medical surveillance

7. History of Occupational Safety
and Health in Industry (2 of 3)

8. History of Occupational Safety
and Health in Industry (3 of 3)

9. ‣ High injury and death
rate of fire fighters was
accepted as part of the
occupation
History of Emergency Services Safety and
Health (1 of 4)
Courtesy of William Lombardo, Fire Chief South Trail Fire Department

10. ‣ Increased role of EMS responders
‣ Injury potential increased
‣ Additional exposure to hazards
‣ More incident responses
‣ More opportunities for accidents
History of Emergency Services Safety and
Health (2 of 4)

11. History of Emergency Services Safety and
Health (3 of 4)
‣ Early fire services texts didn’t offer prevention strategies
‣ First publicized documents
‣ America Burning, 1973 report
‣ Focused on firefighter safety
‣ Staffing, education, and equipment
‣ NFPA 1403, 1500, 1710
‣ Two-in/two-out procedures
‣ Respiratory protection standard in 1998

12. History of Emergency Services Safety and
Health (4 of 4)

13. Other Changes
‣ Threat of terrorism
‣ Weapons of mass destruction
‣ Publication of NFPA 1500
‣ Health and safety officers
‣ Textbooks
‣ Safety and health committees
‣ Standard operating procedures
‣ Certification programs

14. Identification of the Safety Problem
‣ The design and development of a local program
must be based on local problems
‣ Local statistics
‣ Relevant safety and health problems
‣ Annual safety and health data

15. National Fire Protection Association (NFPA)
‣ Compiling and publishing annual reports since 1974
‣ Occupational injuries and deaths
‣ Death survey
‣ Type of duty
‣ Cause of death
‣ Age group
‣ Population served
‣ Injury survey
‣ Projects national fire fighter experience

16. United States Fire Administration (USFA) (1 of
2)
‣ Oversees the National Fire Incident Reporting
System (NFIRS)
‣ Collects data regarding fire fighter casualties
‣ Voluntary system
‣ Only information regarding incidents
‣ Injuries that occur outside of incidents are not
captured

17. United States Fire Administration (USFA) (2 of
2)
Reproduced from: Firefighter Fatalities in the United States in 2012, Fig. 1, page 6, US Fire Administration.

18. International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF)
‣ Annual study on safety and health issues
‣ Lost-time injuries
‣ Exposure to infectious diseases
‣ Fire Service Joint Labor Management Wellness-Fitness
Initiative
‣ Component reporting to the IAFF
‣ Employee wellness, fitness, and injury issues
‣ Departments choose to participate

19. Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA)
‣ Mandates
‣ Reporting requirements
‣ Occupation-related injuries and deaths
‣ Data incomplete
‣ Not every state requires public departments to
comply

20. National Institute for Occupation Safety and
Health (NIOSH)
‣ Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention
Program
‣ Independent investigations
‣ Seeks to learn from tragic events
‣ Formulate recommendations for prevention
‣ Research database
‣ Identifiers are not included

21. Injuries by Type of Duty
From the 2012 NFPA Firefighter Injury Report
‣ Responding/returning
‣ Fireground
‣ Nonfire emergencies
‣ Training
‣ Other on-duty
Reproduced from: NFPA Annual Survey of Fire Departments for US Fire Experience (2012),
NFPA

22. ‣ 10 classifications
‣ Burns
‣ Smoke or gas inhalation
‣ Other respiratory distress
‣ Burns and smoke
inhalation
‣ Wounds, cuts, bleeding,
bruise
Nature of Injuries (1 of 2)
‣ Dislocation, fracture
‣ Heart attack or stroke
‣ Strain, sprain, muscular pain
‣ Thermal stress
‣ Other

23. Nature of Injuries (2 of 2)
Reproduced
from:
NFPA
Annual
Survey
of
Fire
Departments
for
US
Fire
Experience
(2012),
NFPA

24. ‣ Struck by object
‣ Stepped on or made
contact with an object
‣ Extreme weather
‣ Exposure to fire
products
‣ Exposure to chemicals or
radiation
‣ Fell, slipped, jumped
‣ Overexertion
‣ Other
Fireground Injuries by Cause (1 of 2)

25. Fireground Injuries by Cause (2 of 2)
Reproduced from: NFPA Annual Survey of Fire Departments for US Fire Experience (2012), NFPA

26. Average Number of Fires and Fireground
Injuries Per Department by Population (1 of 2)
‣ Injuries per 100 fire fighters
‣ Number of fires a fire department responds to
‣ Directly related to population protected
‣ Fireground injuries
‣ Directly related to exposure to fires

27. Average Number of Fires and Fireground
Injuries Per Department by Population (2 of 2)
Reproduced from: NFPA Annual Survey of Fire Departments for US Fire Experience (2012), NFPA

28. Fire Fighter Life Safety Initiatives (1 of 3)
‣ National Firefighter Life Safety Summit
‣ 2004
‣ Focused on how to prevent line-of-duty deaths
‣ Fire service leaders from every identifiable segment
of the fire service
‣ Goal was to gain the commitment of the fire service
leadership
‣ Result has been the 16 Firefighter Life Safety
Initiatives (FLSIs)

29. Fire Fighter Life Safety Initiatives (2 of 3)
Courtesy
of
the
National
Fallen
Firefighters
Foundation.

30. ‣ SAFEOPS
‣ Supervision
‣ Attitude
‣ Fitness and wellness
‣ Education
‣ Organizational involvement
‣ Procedures
‣ Standards/regulations
Fire Fighter Life Safety Initiatives (3 of 3)

31. Is It Working?
‣ Rate of illnesses, injuries, and fatalities has remained
relatively constant
‣ Every agency must make safety and health a top
organizational priority
‣ Solid research must be conducted
‣ New programs are developed frequently
‣ Increase organizational preparedness