title: Characteristics of Workplace Injuries among Nineteen Thousand Korean Firefighters.
abstract: To determine the actual firefighter injury statistics in Korea, we conducted a survey on the nature of on-duty injuries among all male firefighters in Korea. We distributed questionnaires to all Korean male firefighters via email, and data from the 19,119 workers that responded were used for data analysis. The job types were categorized into fire suppression, emergency medical service (EMS) and officers. As estimated of age standardized injury prevalence per one thousand workers, 354 fire extinguishing personnel, 533 EMS workers, and 228 officers experienced one or more injuries during the previous 12 months. The odds ratio (95% confidence interval) of injuries was 1.86 (1.61-2.15) for fire suppression and 2.93 (2.51-3.42) for EMS personnel compared to officers after adjusting for age, marital status, smoking habit and career period. Age standardized absence days from work due to injuries per one thousand workers were 1,120, 1,337, and 676 for fire suppression, EMS and officers, respectively. Car accident (24.5%) was the most common cause and wound (42.3%) was the most common type of injuries. Our nationwide representative study showed that fire suppression and EMS workers are at greater risk of on-duty injuries compared to officers. We observed different injury characteristics compared to those reported in other countries.
authors.affiliation: The Institute for Occupational Health, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.|Department of Preventive Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Jin Ha
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4198-2955
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Yoon
authors.affiliation: The Institute for Occupational Health, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.|Department of Preventive Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Yeong Kwang
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0466-5726
authors.initials: YK
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Seoul Medical Center, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Kyoo Sang
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4896-0548
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Dongguk University Ilsan Hospital, Goyang, Korea. ysahn@dongguk.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Yeon Soon
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0039-069X
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Ahn
mesh_terms: D000062:Accidents, Occupational / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000328:Adult; D044466:Asian People; D001753:Blast Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology; D034742:Electronic Mail; D004632:Emergency Medical Services; D061388:Firefighters; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D015995:Prevalence; D056910:Republic of Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D017132:Workplace; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology*
keywords: Emergency Medical Service; Firefighter; Injury; Korea