Citation

Pawer S, Turcotte K, Desapriya E, Zheng A, Purewal A, Wellar A, Kunz K, Garis L, Thomas LS, Pike I. Front. Public Health 2022; 10: e861762.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, Frontiers Editorial Office)

DOI

10.3389/fpubh.2022.861762

PMID

35615035

PMCID

PMC9124893

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: This study explored how demographic characteristics, life experiences, and firefighting experiences have an impact on work-related injuries among female firefighters, and described events surrounding such work-related injuries.

METHODS: This online survey was available from June 2019 to July 2020. Questions related to demographic characteristics, life experiences, firefighting experiences, and work-related injuries. Descriptive analyses characterized variables by the presence or absence of work-related injury, injury severity, job assignment, and country of residence.

RESULTS: There were 1,160 active female firefighter survey respondents from the US and Canada, 64% of whom reported having at least one work-related injury. US respondents made up 67% of the total but 75% of the injured sample. Injured respondents were older, had been in the fire service longer, and had a greater number of fires and toxic exposures than non-injured respondents. Heavier weight, tobacco use, and alcohol consumption were more common among injured respondents. The two most common contributing factors to work-related injuries were human error and firefighter fatigue. Among respondents who reported an injury-related time loss claim, 69% were wearing protective equipment when injured, and 9% of the injuries directly resulted in new policy implementation.

CONCLUSIONS: These findings can help inform resource allocation, and development of new policies and safety protocols, to reduce the number of work-related injuries among female firefighters.

Language: en

Keywords

Humans; Female; survey; Fatigue; Surveys and Questionnaires; *Firefighters; *Occupational Injuries/epidemiology; Canada/epidemiology; firefighters; occupational injuries; risk factors for injury; United States/epidemiology; women's health