Assessment of relationships between work stress, work-family conflict, burnout and firefighter safety behavior outcomes

Introduction: Burnout, in the context of emotional exhaustion, cynicism and depersonalization, has resulted in detrimental effects to workers. The relationship with safety outcomes, however, has not been fully explored, particularly in the American fire service. The main focus of this study is to delineate the relationships between work stress, work-family conflict, burnout and firefighter safety behavior outcomes. Methods: Data were collected from career firefighters in the southeastern United States (n = 208). Path analysis, which allows for the simultaneous modeling of regression relationships, was completed to assess the relationships between work stress, work-family conflict and burnout and the relationships between burnout and multiple firefighter safety behavior outcomes including compliance with personal protective equipment procedures, safe work practices and safety reporting and communication behavior. Results: Analyses indicated that both work stress and work-family conflict predicted burnout and burnout negatively influenced personal protective equipment compliance, adherence to safety work practices, and safety reporting and communication. Conclusions: Firefighter burnout significantly impacts firefighter safety performance. Firefighters are less likely to exhibit compliance oriented and self-protective behaviors, which may have implications on overall firefighter safety, health and wellbeing.