What is the problem?
The unpredictable nature of firefighting exposes firefighters to many work hazards, increasing their chances of diseases and injuries such as cancer, post-traumatic stress disorder, and bone and joint sprains and strains. Past studies have not looked at the type of web resources available to firefighters about their health and safety. The purpose of this study was to determine what type of health resources are posted on Canadian firefighter websites.
How did the team study the problem?
We did Google searches to find the Canadian employer and union websites on the international/national, provincial, and local level. We looked for any resources related to firefighter health and safety in terms of physical, mental, and work health. We checked 533 organizations for websites and found a total of 41 websites that had relevant information.
What did the team find?
We found 128 resources with 59 on mental health, 43 on physical health, and 26 on work health. (Inter)national websites had the most physical health resources, and provincial-level websites had the most mental health resources. Ontario, Québec, and British Columbia. accounted for 81% of all resources found. None of the websites had any resources on bone and joint injury prevention. None of the websites from Northern Canada (Yukon, NWT, Nunavut) had any health resources. There was almost no overlap in the resources we found, with only 4 resources being mentioned by another association.
How can this research be used?
Our review indicated a need to create and share injury prevention resources for firefighters on employer and union websites.
Cautions
We were only able to access resources on firefighter websites that were open to the public. We may have missed resources that were in members-only areas. We did not evaluate the quality or usefulness of the resources.
Funding Sources: CIHR (FRN: HPW – 146016) & SSHRC (FRN: 890-2016-3013)
