Fitness for Work Evaluation of Firefighters in Tehran
Abstract
Firefighting is extremely strenuous and physically demanding work and involves ability to cope with emergency life-or-death situations. Because of the high physical demands of firefighting, successful job performance and minimizing of morbidity and mortality depends on fitness for duty. The firefighting department of Tehran does not perform periodic medical assessment for firefighters. The aim of this study was to evaluate medical fitness among firefighters in Tehran. In this cross sectional study we examined 147 firefighters. Medical and occupational history obtained by interview, then we performed physical examination, blood tests, ECG, spirometry and audiometry. Then results compared with guidelines for firefighters in the USA, Australia and the United Kingdom. Seven percent of our participants had a kind of pulmonary dysfunction and 25% had some degrees of hearing loss. A considerable percent of them had modifiable coronary heart disease risk factors. Thirteen participitants were unfit for this job that among them; ten firefighters were unfit based on vision capability, one case due to hypertention and two cases because of pulmonary dysfunction. Because of hazardouse nature of firefighting; preplacement, periodic medical evaluations and assesment of fitness for firefighters in Iran is highly recommended. Establishment of fitness criteria for firefighters in Iran is necessery to perform assigned functions safely.
wilkins w. Fire fighters health and health effects of the world trade center collaps In: N.Rom W, editor. Environmental and occupational medicine: Lippincott- Raven; 2007.
Sandy Bogucki PMR. Occupational health of police and firefighters. In: Rosenstock L, editor. Textbook of Clinical Occupational and Environmental Medicine. second ed: Elsevier Saunders; 2005. p. 272-81.
Holder JD, Stallings LA, Peeples L, Burress JW, Kales SN. Firefighter heart presumption retirements in Massachusetts 1997-2004. J Occup Environ Med 2006;48(10):1047-53.
Kales SN, Soteriades ES, Christoudias SG, Christiani DC. Firefighters and on-duty deaths from coronary heart disease: a case control study. Environ Health 2003;2(1):14.
NFPA. Standard on Comprehensive Occupational Medical Program for Fire Departments. In: department F, editor. 2007.
OSHA. standard 1910.156. firebrigades. In: labor USdo, editor.
USFA-NFPA. A needs Assessment of the U.S. fire service. FA-240Dec 2002.
Syamlal G, Doney B, Bang KM, Greskevitch M, Groce D, Ganocy S, Hoffman W. Medical fitness evaluation for respirator users: results of a national survey of private sector employers. J Occup Environ Med 2007;49(6):691-9.
OSHA. standard 1910-134 Respiratory protection. In: 29 USdolC, editor.
Kales SN, Soteriades ES, Christoudias SG, Tucker SA, Nicolaou M, Christiani DC. Firefighters' blood pressure and employment status on hazardous materials teams in Massachusetts: a prospective study. J Occup Environ Med 2002;44(7):669-76.
CDC. Fatalities among volunteer and career firefighters, United States 1994-2004. In: CDC, editor. United state:,CDC; 2006. p. 453-5.
Kales SN, Aldrich JM, Polyhronopoulos GN, Leitao EO, Artzerounian D, Gassert TH, Hu H, Kelsey KT, Sweet C, Christiani DC. Correlates of fitness for duty in hazardous materials firefighters. Am J Ind Med 1999;36(6):618-29.
Byczek L, Walton SM, Conrad KM, Reichelt PA, Samo DG. Cardiovascular risks in firefighters: implications for occupational health nurse practice. AAOHN J 2004;52(2):66-76.
Tubbs RL. Noise and hearing loss in firefighting. Occup Med 1995;10(4):843-56.
Kales SN, Freyman RL, Hill JM, Polyhronopoulos GN, Aldrich JM, Christiani DC. Firefighters' hearing: a comparison with population databases from the International Standards Organization. J Occup Environ Med 2001;43(7):650-6.
Tubbs RL, Melius J, Anderson KE. Health hazard evaluation report no. HETA 84-454-1890. In: NIOSH/CDC, editor. Cincinnati, Ohio 1988.
NVFC. .Heart healthy firefighter program, 2004 and 2005 summary of screening results. www.healthy firefighter.org [Internet].
Kales SN, Polyhronopoulos GN, Aldrich JM, Leitao EO, Christiani DC. Correlates of body mass index in hazardous materials firefighters. J Occup Environ Med 1999;41(7):589-95.
Clark S, Rene A, Theurer WM, Marshall M. Association of body mass index and health status in firefighters. J Occup Environ Med. 2002;44(10):940-6.
Soteriades ES, Hauser R, Kawachi I, Liarokapis D, Christiani DC, Kales SN. Obesity and cardiovascular disease risk factors in firefighters: a prospective cohort study. Obes Res. 2005;13(10):1756-63.
Marsh A. New medical /physical standards for Frederick county Firefighters. 1997.
| Files | ||
| Issue | Vol 51, No 4 (2013) | |
| Section | Articles | |
| Keywords | ||
| Health Firefighter Medical fitness | ||
| Rights and permissions | |
|
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. |
