Evaluation of Fire Fighters’ Mental Health Symptoms and Exposure to Traumatic Events, Job Stress, and Bloodborne Pathogens

Details

• Personal Author:
  Chiu, Sophia ; Douglas, Malinda R. ; Wiegand, Douglas M.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  The Health Hazard Evaluation Program received a request from a municipal fire department. The fire chief was concerned about fire fighters' mental health, job stress, and exposure to bloodborne pathogens and used needles because of the fire department's increased volume of drug overdose responses. We administered a questionnaire about job stress, exposure to traumatic events, mental health symptoms, training and resources for coping with stress, and perceived stigma and barriers to seeking care for psychological problems. We interviewed fire fighters about their work and health. Reported job stress was high at this workplace. Fire fighters mainly attributed stress to understaffing and department budget issues. We found positive screenings for symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and anxiety. Injuries to fire fighters caused by persons receiving naloxone and potential bloodborne pathogen exposures were not common. However, these types of exposures are likely to be underreported to the fire department. Fire fighters should be trained on mental health issues such as suicide prevention, psychological first aid, and recognizing signs of stress in addition to occupational safety and health topics related to opioids and bloodborne pathogen exposure. The fire department should also encourage fire fighters to report (to their supervisors) bloodborne pathogen exposure, symptoms they relate to being in contact with illicit drugs, and work-related injuries.
• Subjects:
  Blood Blood-Borne Pathogens Emergency Responders Firefighters Fires Hematologic Diseases Mental Health Nervous System Occupational Health Safety Stress, Psychological Surveys And Questionnaires

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• Keywords:
  Bloodborne Diseases Bloodborne Pathogens Drug Emergency Responders Fire Fighters Fire Fighting Firefighting Fire Protection First Responders Mental Health Mental Stress Naloxone Needlestick Opioid Opioid Overdose OSHA Region 3 Paramedical Services Paramedics Post-traumatic Stress Disorder PTSD Questionnaires Stress

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• Source:
  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, HHE 2017-0021-3293, 2017 Oct ; :1-23
• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHHE201700213293
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  West Virginia ; OSHA Region 3
• 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:
  30 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Galloway, Ellen ; Gomez, Guadalupe ; Watts, Shawna
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20050638
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2018-100584
• Citation:
  NIOSH [2017]. Evaluation of fire fighters’ mental health symptoms and exposure to ; traumatic events, job stress, and bloodborne pathogens. By Wiegand DM, Chiu S. ; Cincinnati, OH: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease ; Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Health ; Hazard Evaluation Report 2017-0021-3293,
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2018
• NORA Priority Area:
  Services
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  922120 - Police Protection - (NAICS)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:e43a0111e3d9453e13931a52fe556b54a73a35eda491beb732fddcd339d295fdf6f95f0cd38ab642d850614e38b7e792d8068948d87f38b5f87728d7034780f6
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/172376/cdc_172376_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.52 MB ]