Firefighter Health: 7 Steps for Protecting Yourself on the Job

By:  Robert Avsec

You are responsible for the most important component of firefighter safety:  your body.  Your department can put in place the best standard operating guidelines (SOGs), provide you with the best protective equipment, and give you the best training possible, and none of those things will have as much impact as what you do or don’t do for yourself.

As we prepare to turn the calendar to 2014, here’s a list of New Year’s Resolutions that every firefighter should commit themselves to doing in the new year…and for many years to come.

1.         Get an annual health assessment completed by a physician from women’s health clinic.  If your department presently offers this to you, make sure you get it done annually.  If it does not, make your own appointment with your primary physician.  One of the key elements of the new Affordable Care Act is that preventative services, such as annual health assessments, must be available at no cost to the policy holder.

See Related:  Dr. Oz’s Know Your 5: The Lifesaving Numbers You Need to Know

2.         Improve your physical lifestyle.  Improve your overall physical condition and maintain it by:  eating a healthy diet; get adequate sleep; and workout daily. You may learn more about the benefits of adding greens powder to your daily health routines by reading our Athletic Greens Review.

3.         Stay hydrated.  Your body needs water to “do its thing.”  At a moments notice, you can be engaged in a level of physical activity greater than that of a world-class athlete.  Make sure you start your day properly hydrated and stay that way.  Easy way to check your hydration level?  Check the color of your urine output!

4.         Wear your firefighting protective clothing according to your department’s SOG.  Nobody should have to tell you when and wear to use your gear.  You are your personal safety officer.  Always check your gear and that of your buddy before entering a hazard area.

5.         Don’t breathe smoke.  Following your department’s SOG for SCBA use should be your baseline, and only that, a baseline.  Portable gas monitors are useful in monitoring air quality in the hazard area, e.g., during overhaul, but they only monitor for the presence of four gases at most.  Even top chemists and physicists don’t know all of the “ethyl-methyl-bad-stuff” that is present in the combustion of today’s synthetic building materials and building furnishings.  Protect yourself:  If you’re in the hazard area, wear your SCBA.

6.         Wear hearing protection.  Running fire apparatus, portable power equipment, generators and such are just a few of the “players” in a game that’s ruining your ability to hear.  And that’s just on the emergency scene.  Think about all the noise sources around the fire station that are doing the same thing:  lawn care equipment, power equipment, preventative maintenance on power equipment carried on the apparatus, etc.  Carry personal hearing protection, e.g., foam ear plugs, on your person at all times while on duty and use them without fail.

Firefighters are a group of workers whose hearing conservation must receive more attention. These workers routinely are exposed to high levels of noise (Fire and Emergency Service, 1992) and awareness of hearing protection procedures must be raised. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health is working toward solutions for this group of workers by developing hearing protection devices for their specific needs.[1]