Psychosocial Hazards and Risks

Abstract

The non-physical hazards of firefighting may be easily overlooked given the clearly more obvious physical risks these workers face. Less obvious, but no less deleterious, are issues such as stress, fatigue, and psychological trauma. In fact, it has been suggested that job-related deaths in this occupational group are more often caused by psychosocial hazards (e.g., stress and stress-related medical issues 33 %) than by direct exposure to the risk of injury. Psychosocial risk factors include shiftwork, sleep deprivation, multiple and urgent cognitive demands, critical incidents, lack of equipment or poorly designed/maintained equipment, changing environments, tedium, interpersonal conflict, interactions with the public/victims, lack of autonomy, poor supervision/support, role conflicts, and work-family balance. Collectively, these have been referred to as psychosocial hazards, which for the purpose of this chapter, will be defined as work-related psychosocial factors that cause distress, and have a negative influence on workers’ health and their abilities to perform successfully. These hazards are influenced by factors such as personality (e.g., extraversion) and culture (e.g., the brotherhood). Firefighting represent the extremes of frequently identified psychosocial hazards: job content, workload and work pace, work schedules, control, environment and equipment, organizational culture and function, interpersonal relationships, organizational role, career development and home-work interface include dysfunctional behavior, predisposition to injuries, and mental illness. Interventions can mitigate the effects of psychosocial hazards in firefighting.