No / Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to understand the need and resources firefighters have to deal with death and dying (D&D) that they encounter whilst on duty and to present a curriculum to support D&D issues for firefighters. Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative methodology involving focus groups was conducted in two fire stations in Spain. The sample was 38 male participants with a mean age of 46 y/o (range: 30-59 years) and an average tenure of employment of 18 years (range: 6-35 years). Data were subjected to a thematic analysis. Dual coding of the transcripts in addition to member checking enhanced analysis. Findings – Nine themes emerged: witnessing D&D during rescue operations;memories about D&D and trauma; impact on firefighter’s families; decision-making process under stress; teamwork: protective and self-support; inadequate D&D preparation and training; adequate technical and physical training preparation; relationship between equipment, legal-moral obligation, and victims’ outcomes; communication issues: toward the victim and/or their relatives. These themes were subsequently framed into three basic domains: personal impact of D&D, team impact of D&D, and victim impact. Each domain, in its turn, is covered by three curriculum topics. The curriculum’s pedagogy is primarily based on experimental-reflective activities during 16 study-hours. Research limitations/implications – The absence of female participants. All fire stations were in cities with no more than 150,000 inhabitants. Practical implications – Individuals who take this curriculum will: increase their ability for self-care and resilience; improve teamwork, leadership skills, and to decrease burnout; provide more effective care for victims; provide skills to cope with compassion fatigue; reduced the levels of post-traumatic stress disorders. Originality/value – Understanding firefighters’ needs with relation to D&D, and assessing the resources available to mitigate these issues will provide a comprehensive approach to their education and promote health both personally and professionally. A comparable curriculum or proposal has not been previously identified.

The 21st century world of work is characterised by increased global competition, a relentless drive to cost effective measures, work pressure, highly constrained budgets, higher levels of unemployment, constant economic fluctuations, political instability as well as corruption. The general aim of this study was to determine the relationship between emotional intelligence and occupational stressors amongst firefighters in a metropolitan municipality. Although there has been some research conducted on stress amongst firefighters in South Africa, there has been no research on the two constructs of occupational stress and emotional intelligence of firefighters. The study was done through a quantitative research method. The sample was selected by using the nonprobability sample of convenience. The sample was obtained by selecting any seven (7) of the 21 fire stations randomly. The sample consisted of 150 firefighters who completed a Biographical Information Questionnaire, Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-I 2.0) and the Sources of Work Stress Inventory (SWSI). The questionnaires were analysed using SPSS, the correlation and multiple linear regression results indicated that there is a relationship between the two constructs, emotional intelligence and occupational stress amongst firefighters and that those with a higher level of emotional intelligence experienced less stress and those who scored lower on emotional intelligence experienced high levels of stress. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M. Com. (Industrial and Organizational Psychology)

ITC/USA 2009 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-Fifth Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 26-29, 2009 / Riviera Hotel & Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / In this project, a telemetry system is implemented to save firefighters from potential danger in their working environment. Each Firefighter has a "node" or "unit" attached to them which contains temperature, oxygen, and carbon-monoxide sensors, and a transceiver. Each node constantly transmits data collected by the sensors to a central "base station." The base station consists of a laptop which is monitored by the Fire Chief at a safe distance from the scene, and it displays gas levels. The base station monitors the sensor readings, and sets off an alarm locally and also at the node if a reading has reached a predetermined critical value.

Firefighters experience stressful job demands. Many of them work in shifts that can extend to 96-hour rotations. Firefighters also tend to suffer from poor sleep quality and psychological distress; however, there are conflicting findings on how these factors may relate to each other. The purpose of this quantitative survey study was to examine the relation between symptoms of depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and alcohol abuse to shift duration in firefighters who work 24-hour shifts compared to those who work 48-hour shifts, with sleep quality as a mediating variable. The repair and restoration theory of sleep was the theoretical framework. One hundred forty-three adult firefighters employed in the midwestern region of the United States completed a demographic questionnaire, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and the Psychiatric Diagnostic Screening Questionnaire using an online survey to help ensure anonymity. The results of a multivariate analysis of covariance indicated that anxiety [F (1, 140) = 4.042, p = .042; F (1, 140) = 4.521, p = .035] and alcohol abuse [F (1, 140) = 12.497, p = .001; F (1, 140) = 12.686, p =.001] were both significantly related to shift duration before and after controlling for sleep quality, with individuals in the longer shifts reporting more distress. PTSD was not significantly different between the groups; however, a trend emerged for longer shifts to be related to more distress after controlling for sleep quality. The findings of this research may be used to promote social change by improving the lives of firefighters and the communities they serve, as well as educating decision makers with information needed to address potential mental health burdens of shiftwork in this population.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the safety culture and safety behaviors of metropolitan professional firefighters. A validated and reliable safety culture survey was used to assess the safety culture of a metropolitan fire department. A safety behavioral checklist was created and used to assess the safety behaviors of professional fire fighters. The sample for the study included 156 firefighters from a metropolitan fire department in North Carolina. A Pearson correlation was used to determine if there was a significant relationship between safety culture and safety behaviors. ANOVA and t-tests were used to determine if significant differences existed in safety culture and/or safety behavior on selected demographic factors. Data analysis revealed a significant correlation between safety culture and safety behavior. Results indicated the more positive safety culture is viewed, the more likely the firefighter is to practice safe behaviors. Findings also indicate that demographic factors such as education, marital status, work experience, and dependent status have no significance on how firefighters view safety culture and on the safety behaviors of firefighters. Data analysis did indicate a marginal significance in safety culture by participants who reported being moderately or severely injured ‘on the job’.

As the structure of society has changed, there has been a gradual increase in non-profit organizations. People no longer work to only satisfy biological needs, but have started pursuing higher levels of self-actualization by participating in various volunteer activities. This research aimed to investigate the relationships among the big five personality traits, participation motivation, and involvement of the Pingtung County Ligang Squadron Volunteer Firefighters. The main purposes of this study were: (1) To explore the relation of demographic features to the big five personality traits of volunteer firefighters; (2) To explore the relation of the big five personality traits to participation motivation of volunteer firefighters; and (3) To explore whether participation motivation would be associated with involvement. We distributed 185 questionnaires via purposive sampling and received 145 valid questionnaires. The response rate was 80.5%. Reliability, descriptive statistics, independent sample t-test, one-way ANOVA, and regression analysis were employed for data analysis. The results showed that volunteer firefighters' personality traits were correlated with age, education level, and occupation. Among the big five personality traits, conscientiousness and emotional stability were significantly associated with participation motivation. Volunteer firefighters with the firefighting or nursing profession showed greater willingness for continued participation. Implications, limitations, and future directions are discussed.

Summary Public Health Ecology Operating conditions of Kaunas city firefighters and correlation with health disturbances Laimis Grigelevičius Supervisor Rita Raškevičienė, MD, PhD., Department of Environmental and Occupational Medicine. Faculty of Public Health, Kaunas University of Medicine. – Kaunas, 2005. – P. 61 Objective To analyse operating conditions of Kaunas city firefighters and correlation with health disorders Methods It was made cross-sectional (prevalence) study. Surveyed population was 223 firefighters: 7 females and 216 males. Respondents were 20-53 years old. Statistical data analysis was performed with the statistical package SPSS 11.0 for Windows and Microsoft Excel XP. The differences inside the sample were tested with χ2 – test. For risk estimation was counted odds ratio with 95 % confidence interval (C.I. = 0.95). Results It was estimated that firefighters whose working in noisy environment 10 times more often feeling nervous strain, 13 times more often having disorders of sleep. Respondents whose feeling nervous strain at work 5 times more often have sleep disorders. Respondents constantly lifting heavy weights 30 times more often feel stress at work, they have 3.5 times higher risk of sleep disorders and 6 times higher risk of injuries. After having injuries firefighters get 3.5 times higher risk of sleep disorders and 20 times higher risk of hearing damage. Heat caused health disorders (swelter, convulsions, spasm of muscles) risk gets higher 4.3... [to full text]

[Abstract]: In this dissertation, the author has undertaken research involving the executive of the United Firefighters’ Union - Queensland Branch (UFUQ) to develop a practical definition and application for the emerging concept of ‘human security’ and its potential application to the needs of the Union and its membership.The central research questions start by considering the Australian trade union movement’s focus on ‘job security’, before asking whether ‘human security’ represents an evolutionary move that is worthy of their consideration. Subsequent questions examine the Federal Government’s view of globalisation, as a ‘top-down’ approach, and the relationship between trade, security, and ‘the national interest’, before considering the merits of constructing a ‘bottom-up’ approach from the base of civil society, through bodies such as unions. Human security, as a recent addition to security thinking, seeks to empower‘ordinary’ people as active actors in their quest for ‘real’ security, as they seek freedom from both ‘fear’ and ‘want’. This reverses the Realist tradition that demandssecurity be derived ‘from above’, organised within the realm of sovereign states as they fulfil their task of protecting ‘the national interest’. Emerging post-Cold War,human security has been used to argue that the Realist approach to security, involving balance-of-power mechanisms, may be usurped by a more holisticapproach. One that invests people as central actors rather than states, favouring individuals above the territorial entities they inhabit. The current phase ofglobalisation poses various challenges to states’ security, as the physical bordersecurity erodes through technological advance, and new modes of business. The proposed Australia-China Free Trade Agreement (FTA) carries both potentialbenefits and disruptions to the lives of ordinary Australians. But, the debate is unbalanced, largely flowing downwards from the international sphere to individualsbelow. Alternatives generated within civil society struggle for legitimacy, failing the dominant ‘commonsense’ paradigm, as the current hegemony ensures that the mostpowerful tools in the ‘toolbox of power’ are held firmly in the grip of those better positioned to dictate policies.The search for a new definition of human security faltered, as research revealed a lower level of awareness in issues further removed from the firefighter’s control.From this finding emerged a web-based self-education research tool, and later, a simple pictorial tool, the ‘Orbits of Security’. Both instruments were inspired byGramsci’s notion of ‘cultural hegemony’. Both are intended to show the UFUQ membership how, through education, they can begin to assert greater ownership over their personal human security ‘orbit’ by comprehending the nature of ‘cultural hegemony’. The study concludes by arguing that the rightful place of ‘ordinary people’ is atsociety’s core, not at the periphery. In this way, ‘human security’ becomes a useful counter-hegemonic tool for the UFUQ, and a valuable addition to their ‘toolbox ofpower’.

Exposure to combustion emissions poses a threat to human health due to the complex mixture of toxic compounds. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are one group of compounds found within this mixture, and have known carcinogenic and mutagenic properties. Rates of exposure to PAHs depend on a wide range of variables including, but not limited to, demographic, geographical location, dietary habits, smoking habits, and occupation. Understanding magnitude of exposure to these compounds in various groups is imperative to highlight at-risk populations and provide appropriate exposure reduction recommendations. Here, urinary biomarkers are used as a non-invasive, convenient way to assess an individual’s exposure to combustion emissions. Urinary measurements of metabolites of individual PAHs as well as compounds indicative of a physiological condition resulting from combustion emission exposure are used to infer exposure. Pairing urinary data with information from questionnaires collecting data on possible sources of combustion by-product exposure was used to determine situations of high exposures. This thesis investigated the influence of demographic, lifestyle, and occupational factors on urinary levels of PAH metabolites and/or urinary mutagenicity. More specifically, statistical methods were used to analyze population data compiled for the Canadian Health Measures Survey (CHMS). Smoking, age, and sex were identified as the variables most predictive of urinary PAH metabolite concentrations in Canadians. Together with the other demographic and lifestyle variables examined, 24-50% of the variation in the various PAH metabolites was explained. Furthermore, the results obtained illustrated that utilizing PAH metabolites other than the traditionally used 1-hydroxypyrene may be more suitable for certain exposure scenarios (e.g., fluorene metabolites for tobacco smoke exposure). Occupational exposures to combustion emission were investigated in firefighters as they experience above average risk of cancer, thus paired with their obvious involvement with combustion, are an ideal population to apply the use of urinary biomarkers to assess PAH and combustion exposure. The effect of participating in fire suppression activities (i.e., firefighting) on urinary levels of selected PAH metabolites and organic mutagens was examined. Levels of external PAH exposures were assessed using personal air monitoring and surface wipes of skin. Significant increases in urinary PAH metabolites and mutagenicity were seen after fire suppression events. Empirical relationships between urinary PAH metabolites and duration of fire event and skin concentrations of PAHs suggested that dermal contamination during live fire events is a major route of exposure. Overall, the results from both studies identified factors that may affect an individual’s concentrations of urinary biomarkers of combustion emission exposure. This may be used to identify at-risk populations and/or determine effective exposure reduction techniques to these hazardous compounds.

Magister Artium (Sport, Recreation and Exercise Science) - MA(SRES) / Over 45% of firefighter deaths are due to a sudden cardiac event caused by underlying coronary artery disease (CAD) risk factors that can be prevented through adequate CAD risk factor screening and management. The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of CAD risk factors in firefighters in the City of Cape Town and the relationship between the various CAD risk factors. This study used a quantitative cross-sectional, descriptive and correlational design. A total of 124 full-time firefighters of the City of Cape Town (CoCT) Fire and Rescue Service were conveniently recruited to participate in the study, including males and females of all ethnicities. Coronary artery disease risk factor information was obtained with a CAD risk factor assessment form, including, past medical history, smoking status, physical activity behaviour, ethnicity/race, age and gender.