Fire instructor health studies

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Researchers have been working with the UK Fire Service for the past five years on various studies investigating the health and working practices of fire instructors. This is in response to immunological and inflammatory issues in fire instructors as a result of working practices such as preparation, recovery and volume of wears (the term used for a training exposure).

Current studies in progress:

  • UK national survey of fire instructors and fire fighters on health and wellbeing
  • Investigation into the physiological and perceptual responses to different fire instructor heat exposure sessions
  • Lab-based heat tolerance of fire instructors and fire exposure history
  • Collection of immunological, inflammatory and cardiac damage blood markers in fire fighters and instructors in relation to exposure history.

Fire-instructors-in-action

Fire instructors during testing at the UK Fire College, Moreton-in-Marsh.

Project timeframe

This research commenced in October 2010 and studies are expected to be completed by December 2017.

Project aims

The overarching aim is to investigate and optimise the working practices of UK fire instructors to reduce the impact of repeated severe heat exposure on health and wellbeing.

Fire-instructor-tests

Heat tolerance of fire personnel tested in SESAME's heat chamber.

Research findings and impact

The findings of our previous work have shown that firefighters are immune compromised in an overtraining type response. This work has been cited and discussed in the national Breathing Apparatus Instructors Health Management Guidelines issued by the Chief Fire Officers Association. Preparatory and recovery practices have been evaluated and are now being integrated into working practices of instructors to reduce thermal load and physiological stress.

This work is important for the roughly 250 instructors currently active in the UK and many thousands worldwide that are exposed to severe heat many times each week. Due to the size of the group, they are often overlooked and under-represented, yet these individuals consistently undergo severe physiological stress which must be reduced where possible and within feasible working capacities.

Research team

Alan Richardson

Emily Watkins

Peter Watt

Mark Hayes

Nick Smeeton

Output

Watkins, Emily and Richardson, Alan (2016) Fire Service Instructors undergarment choice to reduce interleukin-6 and minimise physiological and perceptual strain. Journal of Thermal Biology. ISSN 0306-4565

Watt, Peter, Willmott, Ashley, Maxwell, Neil, Smeeton, Nicholas, Watt, Eleanor and Richardson, Alan (2016) Physiological and psychological responses in Fire Instructors to heat exposures. Journal of Thermal Biology, 58. pp. 106-114. ISSN 0306-4565

Watkins, Emily and Richardson, Alan (2015) Fire Service Instructors undergarment choice can minimise physiological and perceptual strain. Extreme Physiology & Medicine, 4 (S1). ISSN 2046-7648

BAI CFOA Health Management Guidance, UK (Oct 2015)

Partners

East Sussex Training Centre

Surrey Training Centre

Moreton-in-Marsh Training centre