TheFireService - IAFF Main

1 Th e Fire Servi ceJoi nt LaborMa na ge me ntWe ll ne ss- Fi tn es s Ini ti at iv e3rdEdi tio nTableof .. 5 CHAPTER1 Int rodu cti on .. 7 CHAPTER2 Med ical .. 11 CHAPTER3 Fitness .. 25 CHAPTER4 Inj ury and Med ical Reh abi litat ion .. 35 CHAPTER5 Beh avio ral Hea lth .. 39 CHAPTER6 Cost Just ificat .. 49 CHAPTER7 Dat aCol lect ion .. 57 CHAPTER8 Imple ment at .. 61 Cop yri ght 19 97 ,199 9,200 8 by the Int erna ti ona lAssoc iat io n of Fire Fi gh ters. Allma teria ls produc ed throug hout th e dev elopm ent of the Fi re Servi ce Join t Lab or Man -age men tWe llnes s- Fitne ss Initi ati ve are th e propri eta ry rig ht of the IAF F, the IA FCan d th e te n ci ties an d loc al unio ns of th e Ta sk Force.

2 Thi s publi cat io n is pro tect ed bycop yrigh t. No part of it may be rep ro duce d, sto red in a re tri eval syst em ,or tra nsmit -te d in any form or by an y means ,el ec tr on ic, mec ha ni cal ,ph oto copyin g,rec ord ing, oroth erw ise witho ut writt en perm is sio n fro m the In te rn at io nal Asso ci ati on of FireFigh ter s. Int ernat ional St andardBo ok Numb er: 0- 942920-50- 33Th eInte rnat io nal Assoc iatio nof Fire Fightersand the Inter -na ti onal Ass oci atio n of Fire Chie fs have co ntin ue d to workto get her in an un pr eced en te den de avor .Wehav egat hered andma int ain ed fo rover 12 years so me of No rt hAm erica s finestfi re depart men tstobuil dastronge rfire se rvic eby strength-en in gou rfoun dat ion the fire fight eran dEM eting the ch all enges of tomo rro w s fire serv ice re quire sthatwe ke ep our unifo rme dpe rso nne lfit and he alt hy today.

3 Th eFFiirree SSeerrvviiccee JJooiinntt LLaabboorr MMaannaaggeemmeenntt WWeellllnneessss--FFiitt--nneessss IInniittiiaattiivvee has been anexc it ing cha lleng e for ever yon ein volv ed in this ve ry posi tive e ndeavor. I n thi s d oc um en tand t hr ou ghou t t he pro ces s o f it s de velop men t, e nh ance -men t and revi sion , we hav e a dd ressed the nee ds of the totalindi vid ual i n a p ro gra m d es igned t o b ui ld and mainta infi t a nd h ealt hy u nif ormedpers onn el. Fitn ess p hy sic al,mental , and emo tiona l r eq uir es an ef fec tiv e w ellnesspro gr am that is made availa ble to recru it s, incu mbents,and ret ire es.

4 Co mpone nts of the We ll ness -F it ness I nit ia -tive i nc lude me dical e valua tion , fit nes s, re habi li tat ion an din ju ry pre ven ti on, behaviora l h ealth , an d dat a c ol le ct io i s no s ecr et that, historically, the fire ser vice ha s p la ced agr eat deal of its focu s on mainta ining apparatus a nd equi p-ment r at her than t he unifor med per sonnel who pro videem er genc y ser vices and us e su ch e qu ipment. Fir e fig htersand EMS resp onder s res pon d to em er gen cy inc idents t hatre quir e ex tre me p hysical exertionand often res ult in adve rseph ys iolog ical an d p sycholo gica l out comes.

5 Over ti me , t heseadv er se ou tcomes impact the overall wellness of t he fire fight -in g and emer gency respons e , past att em pt s toaddr ess p ers onne l fitne ss have be en pie cemea l, s uch a s re -ce nt tre nds to uni lat erall y imp lement timed, task-b as ed pe r-formance t ests. Suchpiecemeal approaches have failed toprod uce un iver sally accepta ble a nd productive result e c hiefs an d IAFF local union pres idents parti ci pa ti ng i nthe Fi re S erv ice Jo int La bor Man agem ent Welln ess -Fitnes sIni ti ati ve have contributed to developi ng a noverall welln ess -fitn es s sys tem wit h a h olis tic, posit ive, reh ab ilitat in g a nd ed -uc at iona l focus.

6 All participants h ave committed th em selve sto ov erco ming the historic fire se rvice puniti ve ap pro aches toph ys ic al fit ne ss and wellnes s iss ues . Th ey hav e c om mi tte d t omov ing be yo nd negat ive timed, tas k-base d per fo rmance te st-ing to pr ogre ss ive we llnes s improvement. Mor eove r, in a join tend eav or all l ab or and manageme nt re pr esentatives hav ecom mitte d themse lve s to the imp leme ntation of an indi vi d-ual ized well ness- fi tness p rog ram that is based on the reco m-men da ti ons lo ca te d in thi s docu me ul ti mate go al of the c omp rehe ns iv e FFiirree SSeerrvviiccee JJooiinnttLLaabboorr MMaannaaggeemmeenntt WWeellllnneessss--FFiittnneessss IInniittiiaattiivvee is to im -prov e the q ua lity o f lif e o f all uni fo rmed pers onn el.

7 T heproje ct se eks to demons tr at e the value of inves ting wellnessre source s for the du ra tion of un iform ed pers on nel s ca ree rsin order to mai nt ain fit , hea lth y, an d capa ble fi re fi gh ters andEMS r esp onde rs. An e ffe ctive p ro gr am wil l minimize theex pendi tures on los t wo rk time, work ers com pen sation , anddis ab ili ty . I n a ddi ti on, thr ough d at a co lle ction and analysis,part ic ip ating depa rt me nt s will cre at e an inv aluabl e databasewhi ch can b e uti li zed thr ou ghou t the fire ser comprehens iv e pro ject on physical fit ness and well-ne ss i ssue s inv olve d the cre ati on and now 12 ye ar s later, thecon tin ua tion of a netw or k of ge ogr aph icall y dive rse fi re de-part ment s w ith ex ce lle nt u ni on/ma na gement rel ati ons.

8 Ea ch of th e fi re depa rtm ents s elected was repres ented bythe f ire ch ief a nd t he I AF F lo ca l un io n pre sid ent , signifi-can t inpu t from tec hnic al ex pert s f rom each depa rt men twas giv en. As parti cip ants, fi re de partme nt and IAFF localuni on o ffi cial s detai led the ir phy si cal fitness prog ram s andne eds, su ch f ee dback h el p as sis t i n cr ea ting and i mple -me nti ng a p rac ti cal fi re ser vi ce pr og ram, which was com-mit ted to shar ing n ew kno wledge w ith t he consortium. TheIAF F has fa cilitat ed thi s e ffo rt and p ro vide d the nec essar yreso urc es to comp let e thi s p roje ct.

9 The I AFC, as an organ -izati on, p ar ti cipat ed i n all phases o f thi s WFI r the past tw elv e ye ar s, nume rous task force me etings andtechni cal c ommi ttee me eti ngs w ere he ld as par t of this Ini-tiativ e. The tas k for ce, cons ist ing of the IA FF, t he IA FC an d thefi re dep art me nt ch ief s an d I AF F l oc al u nion p res idents, di-re cte d t he co nte nt o f t he do cume nt. Ea ch d epar tme nt wa srepre se nt ed on the techni cal committ ee by ex erci se physiolo -gis ts , fi tnes s co ordi nato rs, dep art me nt physici an s, beh av iora lhe al th p rof essi onals, and inf ormatio n management person-nel.

10 E xpe rt adv iso rs w er e u til ize d thro ug hou t the pr oc ess t oass ist with me eting proc eedings . Facilitating and coordinatingthe work of the task forc e an d te chn ical committees was com-plet ed b y the IAF F Div isi on o f He al th, Saf ety and Fi re S erv ice Join t L abo r Managem ent Well ne ss-F it ne ssIni ti ative i s now a c omp let e me di cal , p hysical fitness andwe ll ne ss progr am pa ck age . Sin ce t he in it ial d ist rib ut ion o fthi s man ua l, the IAF F, the IAF C, the Task Forc e, an d tech ni -cal comm itt ee m em be rs h av e co nt inu ed to add re ss ea ch o fthe Ini tia ti ve s compo nents.