Hierarchy of Contamination Control in the Fire Service

"Doing Your Part in Cancer Prevention"

It is well known that firefighting activities can expose firefighters to many occupational hazards and is associated with long-term health risks including cancer. In order to mitigate these risks, the Fire Service is engaged in a wide range of activities focused on development, testing and implementation of effective approaches to reduce exposure to contaminants and the related cancer risk. However, these activities are often viewed independent of each other and in the absence of the larger overall effort of occupational health risk mitigation. This presentation will bring together current research on fire service contamination control in the context of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Hierarchy of Controls, a framework that supports decision making around implementing feasible and effective control solutions in occupational settings. Measures that will be discussed include personal protective equipment (PPE), administrative, engineering, substitution, and elimination controls. Using this approach, we will discuss evidence-based measures that have been investigated and that can be implemented to protect firefighters during an emergency response, in the fire apparatus and at the fire station, and identify several knowledge gaps that remain.