Fire Fighter-Paramedic Dies After Performing Physical Fitness Training – Florida

Details

• Personal Author:
  Baldwin, Tommy N.
• 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 January 27, 2004, a 35-year-old male Fire Fighter-Paramedic (FF-P) had just finished jogging around a training building when he suddenly collapsed. Paramedic instructors and fellow students immediately began cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and advanced life support (ALS). An ambulance was summoned and ambulance personnel continued ALS during transport to the hospital. After 27 minutes of treatment in the hospital's emergency department, the FF-P was pronounced dead and resuscitation efforts were discontinued. The death certificate and the autopsy report, completed by the County Medical Examiner, listed "aortic valve stenosis" as the immediate cause of death. Other agencies have proposed a three-pronged strategy for reducing the risk of on-duty heart attacks and cardiac arrests among fire fighters. This strategy consists of: 1) minimizing physical stress on fire fighters
  
  2) screening to identify and subsequently rehabilitate individuals at higher risk
  
  and 3) encouraging increased individual physical capacity. The following issues are relevant to this fire department: Conduct EST according to the ACC/AHA protocols. Although unrelated to this fatality, the fire department should consider these additional recommendations based on safety and economic considerations: 1. Phase in a mandatory wellness/fitness program for fire fighters to reduce risk factors for cardiovascular disease and improve cardiovascular capacity
  
  2. Provide fire fighters with medical evaluations and clearance to wear self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA)
  
  3. Perform an annual physical performance (physical ability) evaluation to ensure fire fighters are physically capable of performing the essential job tasks of structural fire fighting
  
  4. Discontinue the routine use of annual chest x-rays unless medically indicated
  
  5. Discontinue the routine use of annual electrocardiograms (EKG) unless medically indicated
  
  and, 6. Provide adequate fire fighter staffing to ensure safe operating conditions.
  
  
• 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: Valvular Heart Disease
• Series:
  Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program (FFFIPP)
• Subseries:
  Death in the Line of Duty Report
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHFFFACEF200412
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study ; Report
• Place as Subject:
  Florida ; 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:
  1-10
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20025441
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2005-100142
• 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 F2004-12, 2004 Aug ; 1-10
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2004
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  92 - Public Administration - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  2004/01/27
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:d75457f324d90a43130b983c7f346fc33153d168474dd3195c2f7c5ffb65eba4bb1fd1309e04ebe0761d6de742f35c4f58d96cc2c56a694d3f69db30c88e64c1
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/163756/cdc_163756_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 215.71 KB ]