Female Firefighter Work-Related Injuries in the United States and Canada: An Overview of Survey Responses

• Published in: Frontiers in public health Vol. 10; p. 861762
• Main Authors: Pawer, Samantha, Turcotte, Kate, Desapriya, Ediriweera, Zheng, Alex, Purewal, Amanat, Wellar, Alyssa, Kunz, Kenneth, Garis, Len, Thomas, Larry S, Pike, Ian
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland Frontiers Media S.A 09.05.2022
• Subjects: firefighters; occupational injuries; Public Health; risk factors for injury; survey; women's health; survey; risk factors for injury; occupational injuries; firefighters; women's health
• ISSN: 2296-2565; 2296-2565
• DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.861762

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. 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. 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. 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.