Stress Factors in the Fire Service

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Introduction

Stress at the workplace is mostly positive because it stimulates resourcefulness and efficiency. It prompts individuals to reach their zenith of productivity. Naturally, humans are supposed to experience a stressful situation, contain it with a higher tension and then resume their relaxed state. Stress and the associated anxiety stimulate the release of chemicals that gives the victim in question strength and energy that can be very helpful if one is facing physical danger. However, the energy and strength resulting from stress can be detrimental if the stress is a reaction to an emotional danger because the extra strength produced is not utilized.

United Nations International Labor Organizations defines stress as a global epidemic. Stress has both physical and economic effects that can be very detrimental to an organization’s productivity. Workplace stress and its related expenses cost U.S. investors about $200 billion annually in absenteeism, staff turnover, reduced productivity and rising compensation costs (Ferguson & Gerspach, 1985). Holmes-Rahe Life Events scale indicates that stressful incidents at the workplace include: firings, change in responsibilities, fluctuations in finances, conflicts with superiors, and change in working conditions.

Fire Administration’s Stress Management Implementation Strategy in the United States

The fire administration acknowledges that stress is one the major work hazards firefighters are exposed to in their line of duty (Ferguson & Gerspach, 1985). Fire service individuals perform their duties in a pressured environment and thus the organizations recognize the importance of educating employees on how to deal with stress. According to the United States Fire Fighters Administration, stress management entails knowledge on what stress is, its effects on our lives, and mechanisms that enhance effective control.

The Fire Department Occupational Safety and Health Program (1987) framework covers concerns that emphasize on both physical and emotional well being of the firefighter. The stress management program is tailored to impart knowledge as well as meeting individual needs at both group and individual level. The program is all inclusive, catering for the entire firefighters staff. In addition, the main program is carried within a short period of time to ensure that it does not affect the organizational schedules. The program to be implemented should comfortably fit into the organizational schedule. The recommended channel for stress management is through promotion of healthy delivery channels. Individuals are allowed to participate in the program at their own liberty.

Firefighters are exposed to powerful stressors like environmental hazards that include: noise, harmful gasses, organizational policies, and psychological stressors like trauma and death. According to Ellsworth and Baer (1981), stress management involves the application of therapeutic and common sense techniques with an aim of alleviating unnecessary pressure. The fire administration recommends techniques like decompression, relaxation at given intervals, mediation, yoga, self-pacing, and muscle relaxation. Additional mechanisms include: class control classes, vacations, creative use of leisure time, having social relationships and hobbies that are not related to the work environment.

The disastrous work performed by firefighters requires that they should receive marriage, family and peer counseling to help them make informed decisions. In addition to deal with stress at work, firefighters are given privileges to rotate assignments and personnel to help in dealing with fatigue, decrease workload, and monotony (Ellsworth & Baer, 1981). Firefighters are required to have physical exercise to maintain physical fitness and reduce the probability of development of risks of heart attack.

Components of the Stress Management Program

According to Hildebrand (1980), the program implementation and evaluation committee coordinates fire professional fighters’ entry into the program. It acts like a link the management, medics, and employees. It also manages the program through initiating in-house publicity and team motivation. It also prepares the logistics, organizes for training facilities, keeps the staff training records and carries out needs assessment. After the implementation of the program, the committee modifies it to ensure that it is customized to accommodate the entire department needs. The committee is made up of representatives from all departments in the fire administration organization.

The core program is based on psycho physiologic stress theory. The objectives of stress management program include gaining knowledge and receiving feedback to assess the participant’s stress levels and appropriate coping mechanisms. Program evaluation aims at estimating the extent to which objectives of the program can be achieved (Hildebrand, 1980).

A supplemental module entails devising of new stress management strategies by the fire department. The approved modules should be interactive flexible and should be brief enough to be presented within two hours (Hildebrand, 1980). In addition, satellite modules cover topics like relaxation skills, drug education, methods of stress, prevention, helping others cope with stress, death, family, use of leisure time, counseling, life associated stress, and time management.

The Program Evaluation and Sustenance

Organizational needs assessment enables the committee to identify needs and help in the prioritization of programs. In the process of data collection, the committee should ensure that the confidentiality of the interviewed workers is maintained. The refresher gives the workers an opportunity to revisit the organization’s core program. The annual follow up provides an opportunity for evaluation of the program.

To evaluate the degree of understanding of the participants, the facilitators use a five-point rating scale that is placed at the appendix. The requirement of the program is that the rating scale should be filled in by all participants before a training program and after the conclusion of the training.

The effectiveness of the training aids used in the core programs is evaluated through rating scales feedback given by the participants. In addition, evaluation of the level of individual knowledge acquisition is assessed through the use of rating scales paced at the appendix. The self-evaluation rating scale should be completed at the end of the training program. The organization’s administration recommends that the instructor should review the participant’s responses immediately after the training program (Hildebrand, 1980). This is to ensure that the participants receive immediate feedback and help in the process of reinforcing the day’s lesson.

In the evaluation process, instructors are advised to assign and record scores aggregately. After the study of the evaluation results, the instructor is able to identify the points that require more emphasis, different training materials and program changes for clarity and efficiency in learning. Re-administration of the self-test can be done at intervals to assess the rate of retention among the firefighters.

Recommended Stress Management Ideas

Avoid the use of pills and tranquilizers to control stress and fatigue. This is because it involves the purchase of pills which may turn out to be expensive if the body develops resistance and one requires a higher dosage for effectiveness. Avoid the use of sleeping pills, tranquilizers, and other drugs to control stress. Instead of repressing the stressing situation, one can choose to talk it out with a colleague and as a result easing the pressure off his or her chest (Ellsworth & Baer, 1981).

Define your personal principles to avoid intrusions on personal space. Being principled at work place enables an individual to be responsible, respect others and create harmonious relationships. Individual responsibility at workplace enhances productivity because everyone is obligated to perform their duties. In addition, harmonious relationships at the workplace foster teamwork, makes work enjoyable, and motivates workers thus improving productivity.

Create time for personal reflection. Personal reflection enables an individual to review his or her goal and the extent to which they have been achieved. As an individual, do not let stressful situations have the best of you. In a workplace setting, as individual should change the strategies that are not working than shoving away the problem (Ellsworth & Baer, 1981). Adopting new solutions to solve problems as they arise is economical to the business. Ingoring the problem to can make it advance thus bringing about complications which can disrupt smooth running of the business

Review your responsibilities and obligations in the workplace. Assess if they are sufficient to make you realize your goals, if not discard them and adapt new practical ones. Change of strategy approaches at work calls for venture into new experiences, to help forget the previous awful experiences and learn new ideas and acquire different approaches to problems.

Comparison of the Fire Administration’s Strategy to Siegrist Model

The effort -reward model was advanced by Johannes Siegrists. According to Siegrist (1996), stressful experiences result from the individual’s uncertainty of the continuity of important occupational roles. Other factors include: occupational change, demotion, status inconsistency, and workload. The model incorporates psychological aspects like vigor (positive) and immersion (frustration and negative feelings).

The model hypothesis is similar to the main considerations of the United States firefighters program. The firefighters stress management strategy focuses on competence, control of job uncertainties, and sense of achievement. In addition, the firefighters want to ensure that they are not drained by their work in terms of health. Stress is perceived as one of the main obstacles to the achievement of individual competence, management of personal resources, maintenance of good health, and job satisfaction.

According to Siegrist (1996), the need for control of vigor and immersion are used to define individuals in this model. However, it is not clear to what extent they are affected by an individual’s level of control at work. A study in the United States indicated that an individual’s decision making ability positively affected intellectual flexibility, understanding and creation of personal space. Another study from Sweden indicates that workers in passive jobs for more than six years showed disinterest in leisure activities and participation in politics and the vice versa is true for workers in more active jobs.

On the other hand, in situations whereby the firefighters have to deal with death victims, the scenario is traumatizing and reminds them of their own deaths. These individuals have feelings of failure if they are not able to save lives. On the contrary, they are proud when they save lives. The program aims at reducing the stress levels for the firefighters despite the outcome of their rescue missions. Peer counseling is provided to help them get over anger and anxiety related to positive and negative experiences.

The Siegrist model does not take into account the psychological effects of working conditions like motivation mechanisms for the employees, coping patterns for the traumatized individuals, and learning activities. On the contrary, the firefighters’ stress management program acknowledges the potential effects of the firefighter’s harsh working environment and their nature of work. The program recommends peer counseling, psychological assessment, motivation, and appreciation of individuals’ efforts at work.

Conclusion

In conclusion, stress is the body’s mechanism of dealing with pressure. It can either be positive or negative depending on individual level of management and ability to assume normal functioning. In a work context, stress makes individuals reach their optimum point in productivity. Stress at the workplace is mostly positive because it stimulates resourcefulness and efficiency. It prompts individuals to reach their zenith of productivity.

Naturally, humans are supposed to experience a stressful situation, contain it with a higher tension and then resume their relaxed state. Stress is perceived as one of the main obstacles to the achievement of individual competence, management of personal resources, maintenance of good health, and job satisfaction. Various models have been developed to explain the causes and effects of stress. The Siergist model perceives stress to be resulting from positive and negative aspects revolving around an individual’s ability to control various aspects at the workplace. Firefighters are exposed to stress situations by their nature of work.

The stress management program is meant to enable them to separate their works from their other aspects of life and to enable them to make informed decisions. It also enhances physical and psychological fitness through exercise, professional counseling, exploring new fields, and interpersonal growth through creation of new relationships.

References

Ellsworth, D. W. & Baer, R. J. (1981). Psychological services for firefighters. Fire Chief Magazine, 1, 52-53.

Ferguson, J. K. & Gerspach, J. E. (1985). Stress factors in the fire service: are we having fun yet? American Fire Journal, 2(1), 9-10.

Hildebrand, J. F. (1980). Assessing the psychological needs of firefighters, The International Fire Chief, 15(2), 18-21.

Siegrist, J. (1996). Adverse health effects of high effort/low reward conditions. Journal Occupational Health Psychology, 1, 27-41.

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