• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.139-146
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• 2015

This study surveyed 230 firefighters working in Dae Gu City and Kyung Sang Buk Do in order to analyze the influence of social support and empowerment on occupational stress and its sub-categories. The study results show that occupational stress is reduced for firefighters when there is more social support and empowerment. For subcategory variables of occupational stress, occupational autonomy stress was influenced only by empowerment. Stress related to lack of compensation and stress from the organization's culture were influenced the most greatly by social support. The weekly fre quency of emergency mobilization and years of working were also found to influence occupational stress and its subcategory variables. The group difference analysis revealed that the fire department had a significantly higher occupational stress than the first-aid department, and 4 to 7 weekly emergency mobilizations corresponded to significantly higher occupational stress than 8 or more weekly emergency mobilizations. Based on the study results, stress management programs focused on increasing social support and empowerment for firefighters are suggested.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.590-602
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• 2019

Objectives: This study was conducted to prevent asphyxiation of firefighters during confined space rescue. The specific purpose was to identify the magnitude of the problem, identify the cause of the accidents, and suggest measures to ensure safety of confined space rescues. Methods: We collected data from National Fallen Firefighters Memorial, press releases, and other sources In order to identify the current situation of asphyxiation incidents among firefighters from 1945 to 2019. In addition, an incident investigation was conducted for each case, and the processes, causes, and control measures of the incidents were described as a narrative data entry. Results: Over the past 73 years, eight incidents involving firefighter in Korea have occurred. In these incidents, five firefighters were killed, and eight were injured. The confined spaces incidents occurred were water supply tanks, wastewater treatment tanks, pickling pits, septic tanks, and more. The causes were three cases of hydrogen sulfide poisoning, one of oxygen deficiency, one of carbon monoxide poisoning, and three unclassifiable asphyxiations. The people in need were all workers in various industries. Conclusions: The number of firefighters' deaths and injuries during rescues in confined spaces was severe and the risks have not been completely eliminated. By establishing and implementing a precise incident investigation system, according control measures should be initiatedin order to prevent a recurrence of the same type of disaster and reflected in the SOP. In particular, due to the high risk of occurrence at workplaces, cooperation between fire and rescue authority and relevant agencies such as the Ministry of Employment and Labor and the KOSHA should be strengthened.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.50-55
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• 2020

The heuristics accumulated in the field activities of firefighters were reviewed through big data analysis of fire occurrences in Gyeonggi-do and researched to be utilized for proper fire prevention activities according to time, day, and target through quantitative modeling. Empirical rules with high sympathy were collected through direct interviews with firefighters. Among them, the rule of thumb that "Friday is the most fire-prone" is considered to be the most important in terms of fire monitoring and prediction. A big data comparison analysis was conducted, including the number of fires and damages that occurred in Gyeonggi-do in 2018. Furthermore, fire occurrence patterns by region, day of the week, time of day, and building type were derived. Regarding empirical rules that have been validated through research, relatively inexperienced firefighters also can make decisions by relying on refined quantitative predictive modeling and empirical rules including local government and time-based factors that reflect big fire occurrence data.

• Anxiety and mood
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.86-92
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• 2012

Objective : This study investigated the relationship between the resilience and posttraumatic stress symptoms, as well as comorbid symptoms in firefighters. Methods : We collected 764 firefighters, who worked at six fire department stations in Gangwon-do. We investigated the impact of event scale-revised (IES-R), the life events checklists (LEC), Connor-Davidson resilience scale (CD-RISC), Beck depression inventory (BDI), state trait anxiety inventory (STAI) and alcohol use disorder identification test (AUDIT). Full PTSD groups, partial PTSD groups and non-PTSD groups, which were classified by IES-R scores, were compared in the LEC, CD-RISC, BDI, STAI and AUDIT, ; multiple linear regression analyses were done for independent predictors of variables. Results : Of the 764 firefighters, there were significant differences in LEC (p<0.001), CD-RISC (p<0.001), BDI (p<0.001), and AUDIT (p=0.001) among the full PTSD groups, partial PTSD groups and non-PTSD groups. However, STAI did not show significant difference among three groups. In multiple regression analysis, CD-RISC (${\beta}=-0.168$, p<0.001), LEC (${\beta}=0.211$, p<0.001) and AUDIT (${\beta}=0.115$, p=0.001) were significant predictors for IES-R. Conclusion : The results of the present study suggested that resilience might be a protective factor in PTSD and comorbid symptoms of PTSD.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.126-133
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• 2020

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of unconditional self-acceptance and self-exposure of trainees on the post-traumatic growth and to develop a program to achieve post-traumatic growth beyond the previous level without suffering from psychopathological consequences such as post-traumatic stress disorder I wanted to help. For this purpose, unconditional self-acceptance, self-exposure, and Korean post-traumatic growth scale were used. First, it was confirmed that unconditional self-acceptance and self-exposure of firefighters are correlated with post-traumatic growth. Second, hierarchical regression analysis showed that unconditional self-acceptance has more influence on self-acceptance and post-traumatic growth than self-acceptance of firefighters. Based on the results of this study, we propose the program development and therapeutic intervention strategies to promote post-traumatic growth of firefighters.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.319-325
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• 2015

While the conventional personal protective equipments (PPEs) covers a variety of devices and garments such as respirators, turnout gear, gloves, blankets and gas masks, several electronic devices such as personal alert safety system (PASS) and heads-up displays in the facepiece have become a part of firefighters personal protective equipments through past several years. Furthermore, more advanced electronic sensors including location traking sensor, thermal imaging caerma, toxic gas detectors, and even physiological monitoring sensors are being integrated into ensemble elements for better protection of firefighters from fire sites. Despite any electronic equipment placed on the firefighter must withstand environmental extremes and continue to properly function under any thermal conditions that firefighters routinely face, there are no specific criteria for these electronics to define functionability of these devices under given thermal conditions. Although manufacturers provide the specifications and performance guidelines for their products, their operation guidelines hardly match the real thermal conditions. Present study overviews firefighter's fatalities and thermal conditions that firefighters and their equipments face. Lastly, thermal packaging methods that we have developed and tested are introduced.

• Journal of Advanced Navigation Technology
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.168-174
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• 2015

Wireless communication system for firefighters has an important role as the last communication method between the commander and the firefighters in disaster sites like fire. But the operation of Gyeongnam wireless communication system is installed, and maintained and controlled without criteria for the selection of a transmitting station and the analysis of propagation environment because of the lack of budget and the absence of professional personnel. To improve the performance of the radio station, this paper theoretically calculated free space loss of UHF 400 MHz band used by all firefighters in Gyeongnam and diffractions caused by single and multiple obstacles and computed the error after comparing the results of the actual measurement to those of simulation with FRAS operated by KFL. In the results, Deygout model was the most consistent with the actual measurement for 400MHz band in Kimhae site.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.301-312
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• 2011

Firefighters and police officers have the third highest prevalence of obesity among 41 male occupational groups in the United States (US). However, few studies have examined the relationship of firefighter working conditions and health behaviors with obesity. This paper presents a theoretical framework describing the relationship between working conditions, health behaviors, and obesity in firefighters. In addition, the paper describes a detailed study plan for exploring the role of occupational and behavioral risk factors in the development of obesity in firefighters enrolled in the Orange County Fire Authority Wellness Fitness Program. The study plan will be described with emphasis on its methodological merits: adopting a participatory action research approach, developing a firefighter-specific work and health questionnaire, conducting both a cross-sectional epidemiological study using the questionnaire and a sub-study to assess the validity of the questionnaire with dietary intake and physical activity measures, and evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of the body mass index as an obesity measure in comparison to skinfold-based percent body fat. The study plan based on a theoretical framework can be an essential first step for establishing effective intervention programs for obesity among professional and voluntary firefighters.

• Anxiety and mood
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.35-44
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• 2019

Objective : The aim of this study was to investigate the individual and job related factors as risk factors for mental health of firefighters. Methods : The data of 202 fire-fighters was analyzed by using a multinomial logistic regression analysis. All participants completed self-reported questionnaires including demographics (sex, age, work duration), the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, the Ways of Coping Checklist, the Colleague related traumatic events, the Korean occupational stress scale, the Korean Perceived Stress Scale-10, and the Beck Depression Inventory. Participants were divided into three groups according to the level of stress and depressive symptom scores: Low Stress-Low Depression (LS-LD), High Stress-Low Depression (HS-LD), and High Stress-High Depression (HS-HD). Results : A job related factor-organizational injustice-was a significant factor related to HS-LD, while individual factors such as active coping level and childhood trauma experience and a job related factor-difficult physical environment-were significantly associated with HS-HD. Conclusion : These results imply the need to take both individual and environmental approaches into account when managing the stress and depression of firefighters. More specifically, psycho-education to facilitate active coping strategy and adaptive emotional regulation at the individual level and the improvement of physical work environment of firefighters should be supported.

• Journal of Korean Living Environment System
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.95-106
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• 2017

The purpose of this study was to evaluate comfort functions while wearing firefighters' protective gloves in dry and wet conditions at $70^{\circ}C$ air temperature with radiant heat. Four types of firefighting gloves from Korea, Germany, United States, and Japan were evaluated in both dry and wet conditions by eight male firefighters. Firefighters put their hands and forearms wearing gloves into a hands-radiant chamber that maintained at an air temperature of $70{\pm}2^{\circ}C$ ($T_a$) and globe temperature $106^{\circ}C$ ($T_g$). During the exposure, subjects followed a fixed protocol of manual movements and stopped the exposure when they felt being intolerable. Results showed that completion time was extended by 6 min on average when gloves got wet and 15 min for the Japanese gloves was extended when compared to its dry condition (p<.001); microclimate humidity on the palm at the last stage was greater for wet conditions than dry conditions in the all gloves; and skin temperatures on mid-fingertip, palm, and hand were significantly lower for wet conditions than dry conditions especially for Japanese gloves (p<.001). These results indicate that the exposure time without thermal pain to radiant heat could be extended by wetting gloves during the low radiant heat exposure.