دانلود رایگان مقاله استرس کاری، تعارض کار-خانواده، فرسودگی شغلی و پیامدهای رفتار ایمنی آتش نشان

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Burnout, in the context of emotional exhaustion, cynicism and depersonalization, has resulted in detrimental effects to workers. The relationship with safety outcomes, however, has not been fully explored, particularly in the American fire service. The main focus of this study is to delineate the relationships between work stress, work-family conflict, burnout and firefighter safety behavior outcomes. Methods: Data were collected from career firefighters in the southeastern United States (n = 208). Path analysis, which allows for the simultaneous modeling of regression relationships, was completed to assess the relationships between work stress, work-family conflict and burnout and the relationships between burnout and multiple firefighter safety behavior outcomes including compliance with personal protective equipment procedures, safe work practices and safety reporting and communication behavior. Results: Analyses indicated that both work stress and work-family conflict predicted burnout and burnout negatively influenced personal protective equipment compliance, adherence to safety work practices, and safety reporting and communication.

1. Introduction

Approximately one million firefighters in the United States risk their lives daily for the benefit of society. These firefighters extinguish fires, function as emergency responders, respond to disaster situations and perform numerous other duties requested of them by their organizations, municipalities, business organizations and the public. These work roles and responsibilities are some of the most hazardous encountered by any workforce and are both psychologically and physically demanding (DeJoy et al., 2017). In this context and environment, proper safety practices and behaviors are critical to minimize risks of injury, illness or death, especially since we have not witnessed sustained reductions in fatalities and injuries over the past few decades. Despite limited progress over a few years, recent trends again illustrate that approximately 100 firefighters die from line-of-duty operations each year and around 70,000 or more are injured each year (Haynes and Molis, 2016; USFA, 2002, 2016).

To control hazards and minimize inevitable risks associated with line-of-duty operations to acceptable levels, firefighters must properly utilize and maintain needed personal protective equipment (PPE), follow established standard operating procedures and safe work practices and communicate and report identified safety concerns. This communication is essential so that hazardous situations can be abated or avoided and so that supervisors or fellow firefighters can take the necessary precautions to avoid uncontrollable hazardous exposures, environments and situations. Although there is evidence that these types of firefighter safety behaviors can be maintained and enhanced by a positive safety climate (Prati and Pietrantoni, 2012; Smith and DeJoy, 2014) and through transformational leaders that focus on safety (Smith et al., 2016), it is believed that stress-related factors or affective reactions to ongoing stress such as burnout (Shirom, 2011), may diminish these safety outcomes.