Purpose
The NIOSH Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program (FFFIPP) conducts independent investigations of firefighter line-of-duty deaths and serious injuries. We develop prevention actions to help prevent similar events.
Overview
In 1998, Congress recognized the need to address the national problem of work-related firefighter deaths and serious injuries. They funded NIOSH to implement a firefighter safety initiative.
The FFFIPP is a public health program. We do not enforce compliance with state or federal job safety and health standards. We do not determine fault or place blame on fire departments or individual firefighters.
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Objectives
- Report characteristics of line-of-duty deaths or serious injury
- Identify key contributing factors
- Develop and share actions to prevent similar injuries and deaths
- Provide educational materials
Impact
Since our program's start, we have investigated about 40 percent of all firefighter line-of-duty-deaths that have occurred in the U.S. Investigation priorities may change based on the leading risks to firefighters as identified from fatality data and fire service community input.
Reports and report slides
NIOSH has launched our new Firefighter Safety and Health website as part of the CDC web redesign. This new site integrates all the NIOSH firefighter safety and health web content into one central location to make it easier to find.
As part of this update, the FFFIPP web content and reports have also moved. You can access reports below. However, links to the previous site should automatically redirect, but any saved links to reports will no longer work. Please update any bookmarks with new links.
2016 to present
Find NIOSH FFFIPP reports from 2016 to present in their new webpage. You can search by keyword or report number, or sort and filter with options in the left column.
2015 and before
Find NIOSH FFFIPP reports from 2015 and before in CDC Stacks. You can search by keyword. We are working to improve search function in the coming months.
Fire service involvement
We participate on a number of National Fire Protection Association and other consensus standard setting committees. This allows us to submit key findings from our investigations to organizations and committees best positioned to influence change to improve firefighter safety and health.
Our work, reviewed
Valuing fire service community input, NIOSH stands ready to make changes that reflect:
- Ongoing experience with the Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program
- Evolving knowledge about factors that put firefighters at risk of injury and death
- Focusing on unique and emerging hazards identified by the fire service community
View material from the 2022 fire service community meeting:
Fire Service Community Meeting Summary: Fire Service Suggestions and NIOSH Responses [PDF – 399 KB]