Stress, burnout and diminished safety behaviors: An argument for Total Worker Health® approaches in the fire service

Abstract

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.

Keywords: Burnout; Firefighter; Health protection; Safety behavior; Total worker health.