What Percentage of Firefighters Get Cancer? The Numbers Every Chief Should Know
Ask ten firefighters what percentage of them will get cancer, and someone will say 68 percent. It gets repeated at trainings, in union halls, and across social media. It is also not what the research says. The real numbers are serious enough on their own, and as a…
Health and Safety Compliance: Where Preventative Screening Fits
Two very different things get called “employee screening,” and confusing them creates real exposure. One is medical surveillance that specific OSHA standards require when your people work around certain hazards. The other is voluntary preventative screening…
VO2 Max Chart by Age: How Officers Measure Cardiac Fitness
VO2 max is the single best measure of how much work your cardiovascular system can actually do, and for police officers it is more than a fitness statistic. The research on officer deaths shows cardiac events cluster around moments of sudden maximal exertion,…
Police Officer Mortality Rate: The Statistics Behind the 22-Year Gap
You have probably heard it in a briefing or seen it on a union flyer: police officers live 22 years less than everyone else. It is one of the most repeated statistics in law enforcement, and unlike a lot of numbers that circulate in the profession, this one…
The 9 Most Common Cancers in Firefighters (and Why Early Detection Matters)
Asking which cancer is most common in firefighters has a more useful answer than a single disease name. The research points to a pattern: cancers of the digestive, urinary, respiratory, and oral systems appear at elevated rates, with a handful of specific…