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/lp/annual-reviews/occupational-health-concerns-of-firefighting-0olQ1Zent3
- Publisher
- Annual Reviews
- Copyright
- Copyright 1992 Annual Reviews. All rights reserved
- Subject
- Review Articles
- ISSN
- 0163-7525
- eISSN
- 1545-2093
- DOI
- 10.1146/annurev.pu.13.050192.001055
- pmid
- 1599583
- Publisher site
- See Article on Publisher Site
Abstract
The health effects of exposures related to fighting fires has long been a major interest of occupational health investigators. Municipal firefighters are an unusually accessible and well-documented group of workers, as there are extensive records on their health and work history. The occupation has been studied intensively for evidence of chronic health effects. Interest in the health problems of firefighting increased considerably during the 1980s. A sub stantial body of work is now available that may lead to a reevaluation of many unresolved issues. Firefighters are exposed to serious chemical and physical hazards, to a degree that is unusual in the modem work force. The acute hazards of firefighting, primarily trauma, thermal injury, and smoke inhalation, are obvious. A large literature has been developed on acute pulmomary injury associated with inhalation of hot air and toxic constituents of smoke, particu larly the combustion products of commonly used plastics (18, 30, 63). The hazards of carbon monoxide and cyanide are particularly well recognized (4, 18). Although the acute health effects of these life-threatening hazards and the risk of physical injury in structures affected by fire are indisputable, the chronic health effects that follow recurrent exposure are not clear (3).
Journal
Annual Review of Public Health – Annual Reviews
Published: May 1, 1992