There is great news to report: Phase two of the national seatbelt survey is under way! All involved with the project are excited at the possibilities that the study could potentially create. The idea of conducting an anthropometric study of firefighters was born at a meeting just over a year ago, when it was discovered that most seatbelts in fire apparatus are extremely difficult to wear and, in some cases, impossible to wear. (Anthropometry involves studying and measuring people; in this case, firefighters.)
As I have learned by going through this process, no one has ever studied firefighters to this extent. Yes, we have studied the health and safety of firefighters, but no one - absolutely no one - has ever studied firefighters. The general population, farmers on farm tractors, commercial truck drivers, the military and pilots have all been studied, but never firefighters.
Having been given final federal approval, we are moving forward to perform body scans on at least 180 firefighters in the next several months. This small subsection of the firefighting population that will be studied in what the experts call a "pilot study" will act as the foundation for a more comprehensive study expected to be conducted by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) later this year.
The pilot study is being conducted under the auspices of the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation (NFFF) and International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) Health, Safety and Survival Section. We would like to thank both of those groups for all of their hard work in getting us this far. Also, we could not have made such progress without the help and commitment of Total Contact, Jennifer Whitestone and Jen Manning. We thank them for their expertise, caring and kindness, which have made this project a joy. It has been truly gratifying to see the hard work and great effort of Total Contact and others in the scientific community to lend their expertise to this very worthwhile life-saving project.
Finally, we need your help. We are asking all firefighters and all fire departments to participate, and it is very easy to do. Go to the website www.totalcontact.com and register. You will be asked to complete a survey form that will ask you for your age, race, gender, height, weight and citizenship. Once you complete the form, you will be entered into a national firefighter database.
We encourage every firefighter to participate in this project. It is easy to sit in the kitchen and complain about gear, apparatus or seatbelts, but this is your chance to help make a positive impact and make firefighting safer for generations to come. We have a particular need for female and minority firefighters to take part. Everyone who registers will be entered in the database, and depending on your size, race, gender and age, you may also be called on to be body scanned. For the pilot study, we need about 180 firefighters. For the more in-depth comprehensive study to be conducted by NIOSH, we may need upwards of 2,000 firefighters. Thank you in advance for your help. I will have an update in my next column.
MICHAEL WILBUR, a Firehouse contributing editor, is a lieutenant in the New York City Fire Department, assigned to Ladder Company 27 in the Bronx, and has served on the FDNY Apparatus Purchasing Committee. He consults on a variety of apparatus-related issues around the country. For further information, access his website at www.emergencyvehicleresponse.com.
