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November 2012, Vol. 135, No. 11
Stop, drop, and roll: workplace hazards of local government firefighters, 2009
Gary M. Kurlick
Gary M. Kurlick is an economist in the Office of Compensation and Working Conditions, Division of Safety and Health Statistics, at the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Email: kurlick.gary@bls.gov.
Unlike those in many other professions, firefighters regularly face hazardous working conditions. Candidates undergo rigorous training and generally must pass written, physical, and medical examinations before they are allowed to work in hazardous working environments. Despite the prerequisites, the risk of fatal injuries is 25.7 percent higher and the risk of nonfatal injuries and illnesses to firefighters is over two times greater than to all workers. This article uses data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII) and Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) to observe how often firefighters are injured at work, when they are hurt, where they are injured, and how their injuries compare with those of workers in other professions.
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