Preventing fire fighter deaths and injuries caused by failure to wear vehicle safety restraints.

Details

• Personal Author:
  Lutz V ; Romano N
• Description:
  Introduction: The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) reports that motor vehicle incidents are consistently the second leading cause of on-duty fire fighter fatalities. A NFPA 30-year study (1977-2006) reveals that only 13% of the 406 fatal crash victims were wearing safety restraints, and 45 fire fighters died when they fell from a moving apparatus. Methods: The NIOSH Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program (FFFIPP) studies fatal fire fighter occupational incidents, with the goal of identifying effective prevention measures. Through on-site investigations, FFFIPP personnel collect agent, host, and environmental information from the pre-event, event, and post-event phases of the fatal incident. Results: A review of FFFIPP investigations from 1998 -2007 identified 63 motor vehicle related cases involving the death of 46 fire fighters where not being seated and restrained in a moving vehicle likely contributed to the fatality. Relevant findings from these investigations include: (1) fire departments often have established safety restraint standard operating procedures (SOPs) that are not enforced, and (2) there have been instances when fire fighters had to remove safety restraints to perform required tasks because of apparatus/equipment design and/or placement. Conclusions: Evidence collected during FFFIPP investigations suggests that fire departments must not only develop, but need to enforce SOPs that require all occupants in moving apparatus to be seated and restrained at all times the vehicle is in motion. Manufacturers, fire departments, and those who refurbish emergency vehicles must take into consideration all movements needed to reach equipment and ensure that safety restraints can be worn by all occupants when performing required tasks.
• Subjects:
  Accidents, Occupational Age Factors Agriculture Demography Education Occupational Health Safety Safety Management Staff Development
• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Accident-prevention Accidents Biomechanical-engineering Equipment-design Equipment-reliability Ergonomics Fire-fighters Fire-fighting-equipment Human-factors-engineering Injuries Injury-prevention Occupational-exposure Personal-protective-equipment Physiological-factors Safety-belts Safety-education Safety-engineering Safety-equipment Safety-measures Safety-practices Safety-research Statistical-analysis Surveillance Work-environment Work-operations Work-practices

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• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Abstract
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; Pennsylvania ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSR - Division of Safety Research
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  F4.2
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20035733
• Citation:
  NOIRS 2008-Abstracts of the National Occupational Injury Research Symposium, October 21-23, 2008, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Morgantown, WV: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 2008 Oct; :F4.2
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2009
• NORA Priority Area:
  Services
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  NOIRS 2008-Abstracts of the National Occupational Injury Research Symposium, October 21-23, 2008, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:5df6e9292fdebb79f16187bcf949215559af7eb4c904ca9505bc1c1d16dd250fdf7ec42f31f35b606187f8fa9e7d09f7288551d950469dc63fb33edd8be16793
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/181523/cdc_181523_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 586.21 KB ]