Fire Fighter-Paramedic Suffers Sudden Cardiac Death While Performing Physical Fitness Training – Washington

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 November 17, 2003, a 35-year-old male career Fire Fighter-Paramedic (FF-P) had just completed a two-mile run on the fire station's treadmill when he suddenly collapsed. The collapse was witnessed by a crew member (Lieutenant) who called Dispatch for assistance. Approximately 30 seconds later, the FF-P had stopped breathing and became pulseless. The crew member retrieved the station's automated external defibrillator (AED) and defibrillated the FF-P while beginning cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Other advanced life support (ALS) began to arrive at the fire station and resuscitation efforts continued for an additional 22 minutes. Unfortunately, there was no change in his status, and the FF-P was pronounced dead at the scene by the Medical Examiner. The death certificate and autopsy, completed and performed by the Medical Examiner, listed "occlusive atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease" as the immediate 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 represent published research, or consensus votes of technical committees of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) or fire service labor/management groups. Although unrelated to this fatality, the Fire Department should consider these recommendations based on health and economic considerations: 1. Provide pre-placement medical evaluations to ALL fire fighters consistent with NFPA 1582 to determine their medical ability to perform duties without presenting a significant risk to the safety and health of themselves or others. 2. Provide mandatory annual medical evaluations to ALL fire fighters consistent with NFPA 1582 to determine their medical ability to perform duties without presenting a significant risk to the safety and health of themselves or others. 3. Perform a pre-placement and an annual physical performance (physical ability) evaluation for ALL fire fighters to ensure they are physically capable of performing the essential job tasks of structural fire fighting. 4. Provide adequate fire fighter staffing to ensure safe operating conditions.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Cardiovascular Diseases Cardiovascular System Firefighters Fires Health Care Facilities Workforce And Services Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Safety Safety Management Staff Development
• Keywords:
  Cardiovascular-disease Cardiovascular-function Cardiovascular-system Cardiovascular-system-disease Cardiovascular-system-disorders Fire-fighters Fire-safety Medical-examinations Medical-monitoring Medical-screening Occupational-hazards Occupational-safety-programs OSHA Region 10 Safety-measures Safety-practices Training

  More +
• FACE - Firefighter:
  Cause of Death: Medical ; Cardiovascular: Heart Attack (Myocardial Infarction, Coronary Artery Disease and Coronary Vascular Disease)
• Series:
  Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program (FFFIPP)
• Subseries:
  Death in the Line of Duty Report
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHFFFACEF200406
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study ; Report
• Place as Subject:
  Washington ; OSHA Region 10
• 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:20025040
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2005-101082
• 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 F2004-06, 2004 Apr ; :1-9
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2004
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  92 - Public Administration - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  2003/11/17
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:b41e072ade1274f304b15dd8637f52b59a3296a4e2927540cd31dc0b258dc3e44b4679893d7631eafe9dfc35adaf387147fbcb8d4cb25e2cb24c9242a17f4615
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/163773/cdc_163773_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 107.40 KB ]