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Gender as an effect modifier in firefighter safety climate
Semi-structured focus group and interview guides were grounded in the existing literature about women in the fire service. Focus group (n=18) and interview (n= 7) discussions were recorded transcribed and coded using NVivo 10 software.
Initial results suggest that while women are making progress integrating into the fire service discrimination serves as a barrier to full inclusion. Participants felt that women maintain situational awareness and have less of a “macho, tough guy” attitude than their male colleagues that could improve safety behaviors.
However, rank and file women firefighters are not guaranteed a socially safe or non-hostile work environment, their experiences vary widely depending on the crew, station and immediate supervisor they are placed with. As a result women firefighters are unable to speak up and have their concerns taken as seriously as their male peers, limiting the impact that their risk perception could have.
If women perceive risk differently than their male colleagues, perhaps adding more women into the fire service, and creating a culture that values their perspective, will improve the occupation’s overall safety outcomes. Further research is necessary to quantify these gender differences and their relationship to safety outcomes.
Learning Areas:
Occupational health and safetyLearning Objectives:
Assess whether gender is an effect modifier for safety outcomes within the US Fire Service.
Compare the way women and men firefighters perceive risk and how that may impact their safety behaviors.
Identify progress and barriers that women firefighters face in integrating the fire service, as of 2012 women only made up 3.7% of the fire service nationally.
Describe three barriers to women’s complete acceptance in the fire service
Women have a three times lower injury rate than men regardless of their profession. This research aims to explore what accounts for that difference and whether gender is an effect modifier for safety outcomes within the fire service.
Semi-structured focus group and interview guides were grounded in the existing literature about women in the fire service. Focus group (n=18) and interview (n= 7) discussions were recorded transcribed and coded using NVivo 10 software.
Initial results suggest that while women are making progress integrating into the fire service discrimination serves as a barrier to full inclusion. Participants felt that women maintain situational awareness and have less of a “macho, tough guy” attitude than their male colleagues that could improve safety behaviors.
However, rank and file women firefighters are not guaranteed a socially safe or non-hostile work environment, their experiences vary widely depending on the crew, station and immediate supervisor they are placed with. As a result women firefighters are unable to speak up and have their concerns taken as seriously as their male peers, limiting the impact that their risk perception could have.
If women perceive risk differently than their male colleagues, perhaps adding more women into the fire service, and creating a culture that values their perspective, will improve the occupation’s overall safety outcomes. Further research is necessary to quantify these gender differences and their relationship to safety outcomes.
Keyword(s): Occupational Health and Safety, Women's Health
Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am currently an MPH student writing my thesis on whether gender is an effect modifier for safety outcomes within the fire service. have conducted and extensive literature review and have co-facilitated focus groups and interviews with women in the fire service. As a research assistant I have also de-identified and coded dozens of focus groups and interviews with male firefighters from Dr. Jennifer Taylor's national sample on safety climate.
Any relevant financial relationships? No
I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.