Assessment of relationships between work stress, work-family conflict, burnout and firefighter safety behavior outcomes
Smith, Todd D. ; Hughes, Kevin ; DeJoy, David M. ; Dyal, Mari-Amanda
2018
103
March
287-292
psychosocial risks ; burnout ; work load ; work-life balance ; unsafe practices ; fire fighter
Psychosocial risks
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2017.12.005
English
Bibliogr.
"ntroduction
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.
Conclusions
Firefighter burnout significantly impacts firefighter safety performance. Firefighters are less likely to exhibit compliance oriented and self-protective behaviors, which may have implications on overall firefighter safety, health and wellbeing."
Digital
The ETUI is co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the ETUI.