- Author
-
Karter, M. J., Jr.
- Title
- Patterns of Fire Fighter Fireground Injuries.
- Coporate
- National Fire Protection Association, Quincy, MA
- Report
-
USS02
February 2007
28 p.
- Keywords
-
fire fighters
|
fire statistics
|
injuries
|
fire safety
|
methodology
|
time
|
burn patterns
- Identifiers
- fire ground injuries; primary apparent symptom; type of activity while injured; age of injured fire fighter; me of day; improving fire fighter safety
- Abstract
- For the 2001-04 period, there was an estimated annual average of 38,545 firefighter fireground injuries in the U.S. Of these, an average of 28,790 were minor, and 9,755 were moderate or severe. The leading types of minor injuries were: strain or sprain accounting for an annual average of 6,425 injuries or 22.3%; thermal burn, accounting for 3,925 injuries (13.6%); pain only, accounting for 2,970 injuries (10.3%); cut or laceration, accounting for 2,745 injuries (9.5%). The leading types of moderate and severe injuries were: strains or sprain accounting for an annual average of 3,065 injuries a year, or 31.4%; thermal burn, accounting for 925 injuries (9.5%); pain only, accounting for 785 injuries (8.1%); and exhaustion or fatigue accounting for 595 injuries, or 6.1%. Activities related to extinguishing a fire accounted for most of the minor injuries (15,960 or 55.4%), and for most of the moderate and severe injuries (5,345 or 54.8%). The leading causes of minor injuries were contact with or being struck by something (6,080, or 21.7%), while for moderate and severe injuries the leading cause of injuries were falling, tripping, or slipping (2,525 or 25.9%).