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  • Development of a job-exposure matrix (JEM) for exposure to smoke particle mass among firefighters of the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY)

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Exposure assessment
Original research
Development of a job-exposure matrix (JEM) for exposure to smoke particle mass among firefighters of the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY)
  1. David G Goldfarb1,2,3,
  2. David J Prezant2,
  3. Rachel Zeig-Owens2,3,4,
  4. Theresa Schwartz2,3,
  5. Yang Liu2,
  6. Ilias G Kavouras1
  1. 1 Department of Environmental, Occupational, and Geospatial Health Sciences, CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy, New York, New York, USA
  2. 2 Bureau of Health Services, Fire Department of the City of New York, Brooklyn, New York, USA
  3. 3 Department of Medicine, Montefiore Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York, USA
  4. 4 Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA
  1. Correspondence to Dr David G Goldfarb, Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, NY 10461, USA; david.goldfarb{at}fdny.nyc.gov

Abstract

Objectives A refined job exposure matrix (JEM) based on incident types and severities and response characteristics was developed for firefighters to estimate quantities of smoke particles emitted during structural and non-structural fire incidents from 2010 to 2021.

Methods The cohort included a subset of 3237 Fire Department of the City of New York firefighters who responded to at least one incident between 2010 and 2021, prior to retirement. Fire incident data included dates, type, severity (alarm level) and location. Response data included dates worked, firehouse, position titles and shift lengths for each firefighter. The quantity of smoke particle mass generated during structural and non-structural fires adjusted by individual firefighter engagement was computed using the United States Environmental Protection Agency AP-42 emissions framework. Correlations between years of employment, fire responses and career total particle mass concentration by firefighter were examined. Linear regression models were fit and corresponding R2 values were calculated.

Results Firefighters responded to a median of 424.7 (IQR=202.3–620.0) annual incidents/person; 17.6% were fire incidents (median=77.1; IQR=40.4–114.0). Structural fires were the most common type of fire incident (72.5% of annual incidents/person; median=55.9; IQR=29.6–85.5). Incident severity (alarm level) and firefighter engagement (position title) appeared to differentiate between high and low exposure regimes (R2=0.43). Incident severity explained most of the variability of particle exposures (R2=0.90).

Conclusions Using the JEM, job-related smoke particle concentrations were estimated to vary by incident type, incident severity and firefighter engagement, highlighting the importance of using refined measures, so that future studies can more accurately evaluate associations between firefighting and health outcomes.

  • Environmental Exposure
  • Firefighters
  • Occupational Health

Data availability statement

Data are available upon reasonable request. Data that support the findings of the study may be obtained upon reasonable request from RZO and/or DJP. These include de-identified aggregate data from 2010 through 2021 related to fire incidents and responses in the study cohort (i.e. Fire Department of the City of New York [FDNY] firefighters enrolled in the World Trade Center Health Program). All other data included in the manuscript are publicly available and are described in the text.

https://doi.org/10.1136/oemed-2022-108549

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    Data availability statement

    Data are available upon reasonable request. Data that support the findings of the study may be obtained upon reasonable request from RZO and/or DJP. These include de-identified aggregate data from 2010 through 2021 related to fire incidents and responses in the study cohort (i.e. Fire Department of the City of New York [FDNY] firefighters enrolled in the World Trade Center Health Program). All other data included in the manuscript are publicly available and are described in the text.

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors Conceptualisation: DGG. Methodology: DGG, DJP and IK. Data management: DGG. Validation: YL TS. Formal analyses: DGG. Interpretation of analyses: DGG, DJP, IK. Writing—original draft preparation: DGG, DJP, IGK. Writing—review and editing: all authors. DGG was the project lead/guarantor and accepts full responsibility for the finished work, had access to the data, and controlled the decision to publish. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

    • Funding This research was funded by National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) contracts 200-2017-93326 and 200-2017-93426.

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    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

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