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Firefighters or Cops? You Tell Me!
Who has more stress on the job?
A firefighter or a cop?
Why?
What can you do about it?
You know that STRESS KILLS!
A firefighter or a cop?
Why?
What can you do about it?
You know that STRESS KILLS!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on
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WHAT DO YOU MEAN, STRESS KILLS??? I DON'T HAVE ANY STRESS. I AM COMPLETELY STRESS FREE. WHY DO YOU HATE AMERICA?
This stress-free moment was brought to you by a firefighter. :-)
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Permalink Reply by John Crabbe on
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The reason that I posed the question was because as I was looking at some statistical data, I noticed that FIREFIGHTERS die of heart attacks from stress/over-exertion more than a 2 - 1 rate as cops.
And personally, I would have picked the cops until I saw the data.
Yes; both have stress, both exert physical tasks in the performance of their duties; yet, firefighters die from heart attacks at a higher rate.
That is why I asked "why".
Well Art, the first issue would be the generalization about the term "stress". Majority of replies I'm seeing here is referring to emotional stress, not physical and then it seems you are referring to physical stress.
To me, if you are concerning about physical stress, especially data with heart attacks etc, then I have to give the benefit of greater stress to firefighters. Besides some of the obvious issues, firefighters are expected to go from zero to full speed, even out of a dead sleep, something PD doesn't do. On a fire scene, it is obvious the job is physically demanding and many stressors everywhere. Pulling hoses, pulling ceilings/wall, searching, throwing ladders, cutting holes, then even the actual FF itself, all the while wearing 60 or more pounds of equipment, carrying a tool and PPE which protects against heat, but doesn't allow effective body cooling. (I could care less about what any underwear salesman would have to say there). Now couple that with many depts that don't have a good rehab system in place, or even a physical fitness program in place and it is easy to see the issues.
On the flip side police do carry some extra weight, with a vest, gun belt and equipment, but they also are not encountering the same type of situations. Physically speaking, while cops may occasionally have to run down a suspect or wrestle the shirtless idiot to the ground, it is the endurance challenge that faces firefighters on a fireground. Although, firefighters also have their share of wrestling with some patients and even carrying people to an ambulance etc. I won't even get into the details of running a code on a patient.
I do think police may have better physical fitness standards than firefighters. Number one is there really is no volunteer police force or officers and they are not saying "we have to take what we can get", so I think standards are higher for cops in that regard. As for working out, I know of several officers who workout either before or after their shift and they do have time to commit to that. On the fire side, you can try to get a workout in when you can. I know there have been many workouts I had to cut short due to calls and is difficult to continue after the call. I also can't go all out at work because if I work out to being exhausted and a call comes in, then I'm no good on a fireground. So for the most part a good workout doesn't occur until I'm off duty.
On the emotional side of things, I would say it does depend upon how the individual copes and how they handle a situation. I will not say one gets more stressed or experiences more stressors than the other job. Many times police see the same scenes we do, they can be exposed to the same infectious diseases as we are (and the emotional toll which occampanies a possible exposure).
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Permalink Reply by Oldman on
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In order to put things into a better prospective, and not having seen your data, did the report give the total number of cops vs firefighters. I would imagine that there are more firefighters nationwide than cops. In order to have a more acurate ratio, the total numbers of the two groups would need to be close to the same. I also think that the fire service is keeping more statistics than is the law enforcement community on issues such as this, and there may be a lot more unreported incidents.
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Permalink Reply by WestPhilly on
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Kali,
I would no more make my own bed at the firehouse than I would at my house. (Plenty of FF's at the firehouse eager to please the captain, and Mrs. WestPhilly at my house eager to please the head of the household.)
And Mrs. WestPhilly makes one helluva rare steak! (So tender I hardly have to chew at all.)
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Permalink Reply by Jack/dt on
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And to think that male chauvinism had almost died out. Fight the good fight, WP. (although I strongly suspect that Mrs. WP and head of the household are synonymous.)
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Two things make firefighters more prone to heart attacks:
1) Heat stress. We work in much hotter environments. That does two things to us - both bad. It dehydrates us, which thickens the blood and makes it more prone to clotting. More prone to clot equals more heart attacks. Heat stress also messes up our electrolytes and makes us more prone to electrical disturbances in the heart - another way we can die from heart attacks.
2) Longer shifts, which equals more time under stress per stress episode, and longer waits for health ways to shed stress after the shift.
Stress is cumulative. That's also a contributing factor to why so many of us die within a few years after retirement. Our bodies are just worn out and stressed out, and eventually they give out.
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Permalink Reply by SHAWN FORINGER on
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I've woren both hats and I say police officers.When you pull a vehicle over .You don't know if your going to get shoot and you deal with more pricks (putting it polite).
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Permalink Reply by lutan1 on
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Cops.
Every day they put on that uniform, they're a target. In many areas, the sheer fact of them walking down the street makes them a target for some tosser who hates law enforments, authority or whatever else.
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firemen have the most Stress because a paid man is a sleep and the alarm goes off in the middle of the night they have to come up to 100 percent almost as fast as they get on there rig.
C'mon Bob- a cop has to be on 100% of the time which is a shit load harder....
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Permalink Reply by Mike Schlags (Captain Busy) Retd on
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This is a wrong analogy. Cops must be ready 100% of the time, there is no argument. Key point however is that they are awake, and presumably alert to anticipate bad guys doing things. To not be vigilant could mean your demise, so generally speaking cops have a continual stress for watching out for bad guys and such.
Now take a look at firefighters who work 24-hour shifts. Going to sleep, and depending where you are in the sleep cycle, being put into a fight or flight physiological adrenalin dump into your system to deal with the 0-100 mph world that includes immediately waking up from a sound sleep, putting your brain in gear to process dispatch information and all of this coupled with lights coming on and an alarm.
Now put the extreme physical demands involved with just doing the job. Again, very different than the stresses cops have to deal with. When we are lifting, pulling, extinguishing, etc... the cops are watching us... many times from the front seat of their vehicle with a cup of coffee and donut close by. (just kidding... lol)
This sudden burst of reality on a sleeping person causes an incredible amount of stress, much different that the stress that law enforcement officers have to contend with. it's apples and oranges...
And sometimes, when we do sleep, it's because we are REALLY tired...
CBz
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Permalink Reply by Art "ChiefReason" Goodrich on
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With the adrenaline factor, we all know that a firefighter's adrenaline kicks in when the tones drop and depending on the severity of the call, adrenaline either goes up or down.
How is a cop's adrenaline rush any different? They hear it over a radio, say a report of a person inside a building with a gun. You go. Tell me adrenaline isn't going to be oozing out of every pore and opening in your body.
Again; firefighters are dying from stress/over-exertion 2 - 1 over cops. We chase fire. They chase perps.
The difference?
TCSS.
Art
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Dying from stress/over-exertion (as has been pointed out) is more likely due to the harsh working conditions of the job and not necessarily as a result of the bell going off.
If you look at the average number of "heart attacks" per year I believe it's responsible for just under half of all LODD's. That is significant, so to is the fact that about 1/3 of all firefighters have never had a physical exam after joining (Fire Chief Magazine). What are the physical standards required to remain a firefighter? On which side of the fence do most of these heart attacks occur, career or volunteer?
While no doubt the stress of the job, both mental and physical can contribute to heart attacks, with over a million firefighters in the country, 50 LODD as a result of heart attack/stress/exertion is rather remarkable. Of those 50 or so, how many are the result of purely poor physical condition? Or advanced age?
I believe that there is on average about 300 police suicides per year and they seem to have historically higher numbers for alcoholism as well as domestic issues. It may be that the physical requirements to become and remain a cop are much more stringent and enforced than it is to become a firefighter. Also the job stresses may be very different, less physical stress/exertion on cops but more mental stress.
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