Fire Fighter Dies During Night at Fire Station – Mississippi

Details

• Personal Author:
  Baldwin, Tommy N. ; Jackson, J. Scott
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program (FFFIPP)
• Description:
  Death in the Line of Duty…a Summary of a NIOSH Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation
  
  On May 29, 2002, a 45-year-old male career Engineer (the deceased) was on-duty at his fire station, having returned to his station at 0245 hours from an EMS call and went back to bed in the bunkroom at approximately 0300 hours. Around 0530 hours the deceased would typically awaken first, make coffee, then rouse the remainder of the crew. This morning, however, he failed to awaken, and, at approximately 0615 hours, crew members found him unresponsive in his bunk. He had no pulse, no respirations, and was cool to the touch. Since he was obviously expired for some time, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) was not begun. He was pronounced dead at the station by the coroner. The death certificate completed by the Chief Medical Examiner, and the autopsy completed by the Pathologist, both listed "sudden cardiac death" secondary to hypertensive heart disease and coronary artery disease as the cause of death. The following recommendations address some general health and safety issues. This list includes some preventive measures that have been recommended by other agencies to reduce the risk of on-the-job heart attacks and sudden cardiac arrest among fire fighters. These selected recommendations have not been evaluated by NIOSH, but they represent published research or consensus votes of technical committees of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) or fire service labor/management groups: 1. Modify current mandatory preplacement medical evaluations to be consistent with NFPA 1582
  
  2. Ensure that fire fighters are cleared for duty, following an injury/illness, by a physician knowledgeable about the physical demands of fire fighting and the various components of NFPA 1582
  
  and, 3. Phase in a mandatory wellness/fitness program for fire fighters to reduce risk factors for cardiovascular disease and improve cardiovascular capacity. Although unrelated to this fatality, the Fire Department should consider these additional recommendations based on safety and economic considerations: 1. Provide adequate fire fighter staffing to ensure safe operating conditions
  
  and, 2. Discontinue x-ray's of the Lumbar spine.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Cardiovascular Diseases Cardiovascular System Emergency Responders Firefighters Health Care Facilities Workforce And Services Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Cardiovascular-disease Cardiovascular-function Cardiovascular-system Cardiovascular-system-disease Cardiovascular-system-disorders Emergency-responders Fire-fighters Heart Medical-examinations Medical-monitoring Medical-screening OSHA Region 4 Physical-fitness Physical-stress

  More +
• FACE - Firefighter:
  Cause of Death: Medical ; Cardiovascular: Heart Attack (Myocardial Infarction, Coronary Artery Disease and Coronary Vascular Disease) ; Cardiovascular: Arrhythmia
• Series:
  Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program (FFFIPP)
• Subseries:
  Death in the Line of Duty Report
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHFFFACEF200301
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study ; Report
• Place as Subject:
  Mississippi ; OSHA Region 4
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSHEFS - Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-9
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20025616
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2005-101039
• Citation:
  Cincinnati, OH: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, FACE F2003-01, 2004 Nov ; :1-9
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2005
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  92 - Public Administration - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  2002/05/29
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:33270b24627e92ed268419d9a3a4156223f359c3e3f70be4dcac8b90b55af2febcde882b5c65c0b27f2ac998e57cacc0cb973e05123b32466321d11a4fed5657
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/163749/cdc_163749_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 637.06 KB ]