Occupational health and safety system factors influencing the experiences of emergency management volunteers exposed to dying and death

Abstract

Governments and communities worldwide rely on volunteers to support emergency services. Emergency management volunteers (EMVs) are often required to perform physically and emotionally demanding tasks with potential exposure to distressing critical incidents involving dying and death of community members. This qualitative research explored the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) system factors that influence the experiences of EMVs exposed to dying and death. Australian EMVs from the Victorian State Emergency Service and Country Fire Authority (n = 32) participated in semi-structured interviews which were thematically analysed. A system model was identified from the five themes: 1. Personal characteristics, 2. Individual experiences, 3. Local context, 4. Organisational context and 5. Emergency services context. This study found that EMV OHS experiences exist within a complex system of individual, local and organisational contexts and regulatory contexts, all of which influence how EMVs develop self-management strategies to mitigate the influences of their job demands.