Wildland firefighter deaths in the United States: a comparison of existing surveillance systems

Details

• Personal Author:
  Butler, Corey R. ; Domitrovich JW ; Helmkamp J ; Marsh S
• Description:
  Background: Wildland fire fighting is a high-risk occupation requiring considerable physical and psychological demands. Multiple agencies publish fatality summaries for wildland fire fighters; however, the reported number and types vary. At least five different surveillance systems capture deaths, each with varying case definitions and case inclusion/exclusion criteria. Four are population-level systems and one is case-based. System differences create challenges to accurately characterize fatalities. Methods: Data within each of the five surveillance systems were examined to better understand the types of wildland fire fighter data collected, to assess each system's utility in characterizing wildland fire fighter fatalities, and to determine each system's potential to inform prevention strategies. To describe similarities and differences in how data were recorded and characterized, wildland fire deaths for three of the population-based systems were matched and individual fatalities across systems were compared. Results: Between 2001 and 2012, 247 unique deaths were captured among the systems; 73% of these were captured in all three systems. Most common causes of death in all systems were associated with aviation, vehicles, medical events, and entrapments/burnovers. The data show that, although the three systems often report similar annual summary statistics, events captured in each system vary each year depending on the types of events that the system is designed to track, such as inclusion/exclusion of fatalities associated with the Hometown Heroes Survivor Benefits Act of 2003. Conclusions: The overarching and central goal of each system is to collect accurate and timely information to improve wildland fire fighter safety and health. Each system is unique and has varying inclusion and exclusion criteria for capturing and tracking different subsets of wildland fire fighter tasks and duties. Use of a common case definition and better descriptions and interpretations of the data and the results would help to more accurately characterize wildland fire fighter traumatic injuries and illnesses, lessen the likelihood for misinterpretation of wildland fire fighter fatality data, and assist with defining the true occupational injury burden within this high-risk population. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Aircraft Automobiles Cardiovascular Diseases Cardiovascular System Firefighters Mental Health Morbidity Mortality Occupational Health Respiratory System Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Wildland Firefighter Cardiopulmonary-system-disorders Cardiovascular-system-disorders Fatalities Fire-fighters Fire-fighting Injuries Morbidity-rates Mortality-data Motor-vehicles Physical-fitness Physiology Psychological-reactions Psychology Surveillance-programs Traumatic-injuries Wildland Fire Fatality Wildland Fire Fighter Work-environment Workers

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• ISSN:
  1545-9624
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Colorado ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 8 ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  WSD - Western States Division ; DSR - Division of Safety Research
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  258-270
• Volume:
  14
• Issue:
  4
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20048825
• Citation:
  J Occup Environ Hyg 2017 Apr; 14(4):258-270
• Contact Point Address:
  Corey Butler, MS, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Western States Division, Denver Federal Center, P.O. Box 25226, Denver, CO 80225
• Email:
  crbutler@cdc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2017
• NORA Priority Area:
  Public Safety
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:8ebd9a7953119aceb5f5f8f28c37972c9a69bd49a00db5624dfeb3da01ebad328674f66b63fc73b41c23e73018801e19d8013ede229334a5ab1dcd01545bc16d
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/203456/cdc_203456_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 683.35 KB ]