b'Q U E S T I O N & A N S W E R : Whats a good way for fire fighters to think about musculoskeletal injury prevention?INJURY PREVENTIONDB: The tasks of patient transport and lifting equipment, hoses or using tools, for examplethese are work EXPERTS TALK TRUTH:activities fire fighters know they will be doing regularly. The key to injury prevention is breaking down each of those DONT IGNORE PAIN tasks, recognizing where the hazards are and then trying to proactively control those hazards.B Y J E N N W O O L S O N Are there any special considerations older fire fighters need to consider in terms of injury prevention?To dig deeper into musculoskeletal injury prevention, we spokeRG: As we age, we lose some of our more explosive types with David Bonauto, MD, an occupational medicine physicianof strength. So that one-time heavy lift that fire fighters who runs the Safety and Health Assessment and Research formight have to do or picking up a heavy patient off the floor, Prevention (SHARP) program at the Washington State Departmentthose kinds of things become more of a strain on the body. of Labor & Industries (L&I); and Richard Goggins, an ergonomistPlus, you have the cumulative wear and tear that comes in charge of the FIIRE (Fire fighter Injury and Illness Reduction)with a very physical job doing the same thing over and Initiative, a program designed by L&I in partnership with theover again.Washington Fire Chiefs and the Washington State Council of FireDB:On the other hand, older fire fighters have learned Fighters to bring best practices into the fire service. from their experiences and may be more likely to do things more efficiently and strategically. [Participating in Fire Q: Whats a common misconception about OPS] I experienced how incredibly significant the physical musculoskeletal injury prevention? demands of the job are. Thankfully, there was a very Richard Goggins: One misconception is the idea that if you areexperienced fire fighter who was my shadow, and from him strong enough and fit enough, you can lift heavy things in awkwardI learned some tricks of the trade about how to do things a positions and be safe. Certainly, being strong enough for the joblittle more efficiently or a little more strategically, or using is important. But there can be physical demands that go beyonda little bit more leverage. A lot of that you dont read in a where being a big strong individual is going to help you. Anotherbook. You learn it from your peers, who share this wisdom reality of firefighting activities is that they can be really fatiguing.with you.Once those really strong muscles get tired out, theyre not protecting you anymore, so injuries are more likely to happen. How can the FIIRE Initiative help departmentsWhat can fire fighters do in those situations to avoid injury? with injury prevention?RG: One of the things weve been talking to the fire departmentsRG: Fire departments that sign on with the FIIRE Initiative about is just taking a moment. Not everything youre doing is anstart by filling out a vulnerability assessment program emergency. If youre responding to a call, and its not absolutelysurvey. They get feedback on areas they should be critical that you get the patient onto the stretcher right away, takefocusing on and then we give them some risk-management a little time to make sure youre working safely. If needed, wait fortraining that walks them through that process of looking more co-workers to show up to help. at your frequent activities, identifying where during those activities you have exposures and hazards, and then What are some signs to watch for that might signal brainstorming solutions. All of that feeds into a safety the early stages of an injury? improvement plan that addresses what the department will David Bonauto: The simplest advice is: Dont ignore pain.do in the coming year to address carcinogen exposures Recognize that, while pain may be transient, if it is persistent, thatand musculoskeletal injuries. They submit that plan to us, may indicate something a bit more problematic that you wantthen they can apply for a grant to purchase equipment to to pay attention to. You shouldnt work through pain. You shouldhelp with their safety improvement plan.recognize it and take care of yourself. Remember that sometimes problems with nerves manifest as numbness and tingling, so you dont want to ignore those symptoms either. 47'