Heather Bancroft

Firefighting is a dangerous and stressful occupation which involves a predictable risk of exposure to potentially traumatic events (PTEs). A proportion of firefighters will develop mental health problems.  Fire services have a duty of care to ensure a best practice approach to trauma management in order to minimize the adverse impacts of trauma. There is also a financial imperative, as psychological injury claims represent a significant economic cost. The regular PTEs that firefighters are exposed to include threats to their own personal safety, grotesque sights and smells, exposure to massive destruction, multiple fatalities, deaths and/or significant injuries of children. In addition, firefighters work in uncomfortable conditions, deal with distressed members of the public, and when first on-scene may be required to provide an emergency medical response. There are also inherent occupational factors such as working shiftwork and long downtimes followed by intense activity which contribute to the stressful nature of their work.