The Ottawa Fire Service first engaged in the implementation of an industrial hygiene program focused on controlling workplace conditions that may cause workers’ injury, illness, or death from exposure to toxins resulting from firefighting operations in 1995.1 Early respiratory protection efforts saw diesel exhaust capture retrofits to our fire stations and the subsequent banning of PPE from the living quarters in 2005; recent efforts involve isolation of PPE storage rooms.
In a 2013 study,2 the gas and particulate exposure mechanisms through our skin became better understood. The study led our responders to practice basic industrial hygiene by wearing an N95 filter mask and medical gloves during doffing, to isolate PPE and tools as part of decontamination procedures post fire, and to shower within the hour to reduce their exposures.
The greatest behavioral change came from linking chronic smoke exposures as a disease vector to the natural disgust felt when covered in blood/feces at a medical call. No one questions medical decontamination and no one should question postfire decontamination, as the connection between fireground exposures and cancer is well established. Decontamination is now a training and tactical requirement, and the Ottawa Fire Service is working to integrate hygiene and rehabilitation as a tactical sector to further reduce our exposure to toxins.
Peter McBride
Division Chief, Safety & Innovation
Ottawa Fire Service
Endnotes
1. Report to the Workers’ Compensation Board on “Cardiovascular Disease and Cancer Among Firefighters,” Industrial Disease Standards Panel Report #13, Toronto, Ontario, September 1994.
2. McCarry, B. E.; Shaw, L.; Shaw, D.; Fernando, S.; Verma, D. K. (2013). Determination of Ontario Firefighter’s Exposure to Particulate, Volatile and Semi-Volatile Organics During Fire Fighting Including Measurements of Air Concentrations, Skin Concentrations and PAH Metabolites in Urine. A Research Report (WSIB Research Grant #08016).
