Wildland fire fighter deaths in the United States: a comparison of existing surveillance systems.

Details

• Personal Author:
  Butler C ; Marsh S ; Butler C ; Marsh S
• Description:
  Background: Wildland firefighting is a high-risk occupation requiring considerable physical and psychological demands. Multiple agencies publish annual fatality data and/or summary statistics for wildland fire fighters (WFFs); however, the number and types of deaths reported varies. These differences create challenges to accurately characterize these fatal events. There are at least five different surveillance systems that capture deaths, including traumatic WFF occupational injuries, each with varying case definitions and case inclusion/exclusion criteria. Four of these are population systems and one is a case-based system. Methods: We examined the data within each of the five surveillance systems to better understand the types of WFF data collected, to assess each system's utility in characterizing wildland fire fighters fatalities, and to determine each system's potential to inform prevention strategies. To describe similarities and differences in how data were recorded and characterized, we also matched the wildland fire deaths for three of the population based systems* and compared individual fatalities across systems. Results: Between 2001 and 2012, 247 unique deaths were captured among the systems; 73% of these were captured in all three systems. The most common causes of death in all systems were traumatic injuries associated with aviation, vehicles and medical events (i.e., heart attacks), and entrapments/burn overs. Our data show that, although the three systems often report similar annual summary statistics, the actual events captured in each system vary by roughly 20% each year, depending on the types of events that the system is designed to track. Conclusions: The overarching and central goal of each system was to collect accurate and timely information to improve WFF safety and health. Each system is unique and has varying inclusion and exclusion criteria for capturing and tracking different subsets of WFF tasks/duties. Use of a common case definition and better descriptions/interpretations of the data and the results would help to more accurately characterize WFF traumatic injuries, lessen the likelihood for misinterpretation of WFF fatality data, and assist with defining the true occupational injury burden within this high-risk population
• Subjects:
  Accidents, Occupational Manufacturing And Industrial Facilities Occupational Health Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Workplace
• Keywords:
  Aircraft Cardiopulmonary-system-disorders Cardiovascular-system-disorders Fire-fighters Fire-fighting Injuries Morbidity-rates Mortality-data Motor-vehicles Physical-fitness Physiology Psychological-reactions Psychology Surveillance-programs Traumatic-injuries Work-environment Workers

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• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Abstract ; Abstract
• Place as Subject:
  Colorado ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 8 ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) ; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSR - Division of Safety Research ; WSO - Western States Office ; DSR - Division of Safety Research ; WSO - Western States Office
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health ; Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America ; North America
• Pages in Document:
  74
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20047366
• Citation:
  National Occupational Injury Research Symposium 2015, (NOIRS 2015), May 19-21, 2015, Kingwood, West Virginia. Morgantown, WV: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 2015 May; :74
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2015
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:48a59bd914de884b38711ca7288502afafffd4d258eb044fa38c8fd46c38a794e41151bc6ba08219790fabdfd9ae1967be3e54cdc50767b30f43ceb464c57e7a
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/181667/cdc_181667_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.16 MB ]