Uni-Variate Risk Factors for Firefighter Line-of-Duty Injuries

Details

• Personal Author:
  Fabio, Anthony ; Schmidt, Eric R. ; Strotmeyer S ; Ta M
• Description:
  Background - The National Fire Protection Association estimated that in 1997, 87,500 United States firefighters (8.1 per 100 firefighters) were injured in the line-of-duty. The relative scarcity of epidemiologic research in this area demonstrates the need for further investigation of the factors associated with risk of injury. Objective - The purpose of this analysis was to identify uni-variate risk factors that merit further exploration. Methods - As part of NlOSH's Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program, an analysis of the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) - which includes fire incident data on approximately 44% of all U.S. fires, and contains information on the nature of the fire and the extent and method of response - was conducted. Various potential risk factors were analyzed to quantify injury risk. Results - From 1993 to 1997, a total of 4,156,545 fire incidents were reported to NFIRS, of which over 37,000 involved at least one firefighter injury. Significant risk factors were: (a) civilian injury or death (at least one versus none - odds ratio (OR)=10.1, 95% CI = 9.8-10.5), (b) time of day (night versus day - OR = 1.49, 95% CI = 1.46-1.52), (c) level of fire origin (ground versus 10 - 49 feet above ground - OR = 3.4, 95% CI = 3.3-3.5; ground versus below ground - OR = 3.0, 95% CI = 2.9-3.2), and (d) estimated dollar loss (median $100 vs. $17,500, p < 0.001). Conclusion - As epidemiologic studies examining risk factors for line-of-duty injuries to firefighters are a rarity, this analysis provides key information to guide future research, such as the relationship between firefighter and civilian injury, time of day or level of fire origin. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Firefighters Fires Occupational Health Safety Workplace
• Keywords:
  Fire-fighters Fire-fighting-equipment Fire-protection Fire-protection-equipment Work-environment Worker-health Workplace-studies
• ISSN:
  0002-9262
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Proceedings ; Abstract
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSR - Division of Safety Research
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  151
• Issue:
  11
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20032608
• Citation:
  Am J Epi 2000 Jun; 151(11)(Suppl):S84
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2000
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  American Journal of Epidemiology, Abstracts of the 33rd Annual Meeting of the Society for Epidemiologic Research, Seattle, Washington, June 15-17, 2000
• Supplement:
  Suppl
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:b3bac122032f963efd4fb485bd70e100addd0c9345fee206ef6aad72db24bad6b483517de76bd6a06d158c38d523d72ba347658e48a906fd40ee9da3634887d9
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/186520/cdc_186520_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 340.10 KB ]