Stress, burnout and diminished safety behaviors: An argument for Total Worker Health® approaches in the fire service
Department
Health Promotion and Physical Education
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-1-2020
Abstract
© 2020 Introduction: Firefighting is stressful work, which can result in burnout. Burnout is a safety concern as it can negatively impact safety outcomes. These impacts are not fully understood within the fire service. Further, the fire service needs support that safety strategies are needed to protect and promote the health and wellbeing of firefighters. Methods: Structural equation modeling was completed to examine a hypothesized model that linked stress and burnout to diminished safety behavior outcomes among a sample of career firefighters. Results: Findings support a full mediation model. Firefighter stress perceptions were positively associated with burnout and burnout was negatively associated with safety compliance behavior, personal protective equipment behavior, safe work practices, and safety citizenship behavior. Conclusions: These results illustrate the negative impact of health impairment on firefighter safety behaviors. Practical Applications: These outcomes suggest that interventions aimed at protecting and promotion firefighter health are needed. Total Worker Health® (TWH) approaches may provide the framework for these interventions.
Journal Title
Journal of Safety Research
Journal ISSN
00224375
Volume
75
First Page
189
Last Page
195
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
10.1016/j.jsr.2020.09.010