Welcome to our new blog, "Avoid Injury!"

What the heck are we doing with those injuries you've been reporting?

As you are aware, the Texas legislature recently mandated that regulated fire departments report all firefighter injuries to the Texas Commission on Fire Protection (TCFP) via our FIDO reporting system, and that the commission make recommendations for avoiding injuries, based on the reported injuries.  In addition to their recommendations, we wanted to be able to provide with you some feedback and information on what you have been providing to us. 

Our newest informational resource, Avoid Injury!, will bring you up-to-date information on the injuries departments are reporting to the TCFP.  You’ll get to see what other departments are experiencing, think about how your department stacks up, and then we’ll provide you with tips for avoiding these injuries. 

2010

TCFP has been collecting injury data from you since March 2010.  By the end of 2010 we only had 20% of the regulated entities reporting injuries, but we moved forward with our mandated report. 

The 2010 firefighter injuries report was passed and approved by the commission earlier this year.  To see the recommendations from the commission on the 2010 injuries visit the commission’s webpage.

2011

Thus far in 2011, we have 90% of the regulated entities reporting injuries or “no injuries.”
Thank you to all those departments that have reported your injuries!

46% Report “No Injuries”

44% Report at least one injury

10% have not reported either way

Check out the types of injuries reported in 2011, thus far:

Types of Injuries	Total (8/15/2011)
Strain-Sprain	1192
Exposure Airborne Pathogen	287
Exposure Blood Pathogen	140
Environmental	137
Wound	322
Broken Spine-Neck	2
Bites-Stings	49
Broken Bones	29
Burns	91
Chest Pains-Cardiac	32
Debris/Penetrating	32
Electrocution	5
Exposure-Chemical	35
Hearing Loss - Acute	8
Hearing Loss - Chronic	4
Heart Attack	2
Pain Medical Unspecified	28
Smoke-Gas Inhalation	31
Stroke	2
Grand Total	2428

As you can see, Sprains & Strains, Exposure Injuries, Environmental Injuries, and Wounds are the most common types of reported injuries.   Over the next few months we’ll be focusing on these types of injuries, so check back here regularly to help keep your team safe.

Environmental Injuries

Check out the types of Environmental Injuries that have been reported in 2011, thus far:

Environmental Injuries by Type (2011) - click to enlarge

 As you can see, Heat Exhaustion and Poison Plants make up most of the Environmental Injuries reported in 2011.  Since we’re in the dog days of summer right now, we plan to focus on these types of Environmental Injuries over the next few weeks!

Coming Soon:

• Learn to identify poisonous plants. 
• Learn how to spot someone suffering from heat stress.
• Learn how to avoid suffering the itchiness and dehydration common amongst first responders during the summer months.