Health Risk Status Related to Work among Firefighters in Nakhon Si Thammarat Province
Keywords:
Occupational Health Hazard, Health Status Related to Risk, Fire fightersAbstract
At work, firefighters are exposed to physical, chemical, biological ergonomic and psychosocial hazards that could affect their health status. The main purpose of this descriptive study was to examine health status related to risk at work among firefighters. The samples included 87 professional firefighters with at least six months of working experience. The data were collected using questionnaires in which both the content validity and reliability were confirmed. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics.
The main findings revealed that the following factors we related to risk in terms of illness possibly related to exposure of occupational hazard, 1,work related stress (90.1%); 2.physical hazards such as exposure to heat (89.7%) 3.exposure to dust/smoke (86.2%) and 4.ergonomic hazards such as bending body position (87.4%). Concerning health status related to risk, it was found that the common health problems possibly related to exposure to occupational health hazard during the past six months included the stress of rushing to work (96.6%): burning and irritating eyes (93.1): excessive sweating, fatigue (87.4%) and lower back pain (78.2%)
The results of this study indicate that the nakhon si thammarat fire and rescue department including the related health team should consider the amount of workload of firefighters to reduce stress in the workplace. The well-being of firefighters and health promotion activities for prevention of occupational illness should be supported. Disseminating information regarding safety at work and health risk should be encouraged to reduce occupational illnesses or injuries related to work among firefighters.
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