Considering human factors during firefighter fatality investigations: Insights from public feedback

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program investigates firefighter line-of-duty-deaths (LODD) and serious injuries to help prevent incidents. In addition to physical hazards, human factors like situational awareness, mental workload, fatigue, culture, and decision making can be considered to identify and mitigate risks.

NIOSH sought public input on assessing human factors during investigations through a Federal Register Notice. Posted in May 2024, 33 responses were received from fire departments, academic institutions, and association representatives across 18 U.S. states and several Canadian provinces. Three researchers and two firefighters examined the comments using thematic qualitative analysis methods to identify human factors considerations during investigations.

Comments indicated general support for systematically assessing human factors elements and provided insight into what some of those elements may be. Five overarching themes emerged across the comments: Department Culture, Total Worker Health®, Operational Risk Management & Decision Making, Team Dynamics, and Training and Education. Within these themes, commenters highlighted the importance of considering individual human factors elements such as fatigue, situational awareness, and mental health as well as organizational human factors elements such as leadership commitment and communication, operational risk assessment, and training needs.

Future research may consider ways to empirically and routinely assess human factors during incident investigations and possible tools, frameworks, and training that may be necessary to support these efforts in the field.