[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 99 (Tuesday, May 21, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44683-44684]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-11059]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[Docket No. CDC-2024-0040, NIOSH-063-E]


National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health; Human 
Factors Considerations for the Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and 
Prevention Program

AGENCY: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Department of 
Health and Human Services (HHS).

ACTION: Request for information.

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SUMMARY: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) 
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), in the 
Department of Health and Human Services, requests feedback about its 
Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program (FFFIPP) 
investigation and report process for traumatic injuries. NIOSH is 
interested in how human factors might be considered during 
investigations including but not limited to communication, team 
dynamics, psychological stress, and safety culture, and how these 
factors impact decision-making during responses. If applicable, 
information will be used to improve reporting templates and processes 
to provide a holistic lens into the causes and prevention of line-of-
duty deaths (LODD).

DATES: Comments must be received by July 22, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be submitted through either of the following 
two methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov 
(follow the

[[Page 44684]]

instructions for submitting comments), or
     By Mail: NIOSH Docket Office, Robert A. Taft Laboratories, 
MS C-34, 1090 Tusculum Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio 45226-1998.
    Instructions: All written submissions received in response to this 
notice must include the agency name (Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention, HHS) and docket number (CDC-2024-0040, NIOSH-063-E) for 
this action. All relevant comments, including any personal information 
provided, will be posted without change to http://www.regulations.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Emily Haas, 626 Cochrans Mill Rd, 
Pittsburgh, PA 15236; Telephone (412) 386-4627 (this is not a toll-free 
number); Email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The NIOSH FFFIPP conducts independent 
investigations of firefighter LODD and recommends ways to prevent 
deaths and traumatic injuries. Since its inception in 1998, the NIOSH 
FFFIPP has held periodic meetings with the fire service community and 
interested parties to seek input about the program. These meetings have 
been an important component of the program and are vital to ensure the 
program is meeting the needs and expectations of those it serves. The 
FFFIPP has posted the results of these periodic meetings on its website 
at: https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/fire/abouttheprogram/ourworkreviewed/ourworkreviewed.html.
    Input received from these meetings and from individuals has 
emphasized the need to consider factors beyond the physical environment 
in which response activities occur. As examples, effective 
communication and team dynamics, psychological stress and resilience, 
organizational leadership, and safety culture may impact decision-
making, task execution, and job performance. However, the FFFIPP 
program serves as a public health effort; therefore, recommendations do 
not and cannot enforce compliance with state or federal job safety and 
health standards or determine fault or place blame on fire departments 
or individual firefighters. The purpose of this request for information 
(RFI) is to ascertain (1) the public's interest and need for NIOSH to 
incorporate human factors considerations into LODD investigations; (2) 
specific human factors elements that should be considered; (3) methods 
that can be employed during investigations to collect, analyze, and 
document this information through reliable quantitative and qualitative 
approaches; and (4) ways to incorporate human factors findings and 
recommendations into reports without placing blame on fire departments 
or firefighters. Information related to human factors in LODD 
investigations may include but is not limited to:

 Considerations around communication, including team dynamics 
and leadership communication
 Potential for environmental elements to impact cognitive 
function (e.g., distraction)
 Operational stressors to be considered
 Ways to retroactively assess emotional and psychological 
stress
 Ways to retroactively assess physiological stress and 
resilience (e.g., sleep deprivation and fatigue)
 Safety culture
 Components of risk profile narratives
 Organizational leadership practices
 Research needs and social science or psychological methods to 
objectively collect this information
 Methods to integrate this information into reports without 
placing blame (e.g., identifying systematic issues that drive or allow 
behaviors, actions, and decisions)

    LODD are complex events that are affected by many interdependent 
factors. These considerations or factors might vary depending on 
whether the fire department is serving a rural, urban, suburban, or 
wildland-urban interface area; is career, volunteer, or combination; 
and the work schedule and shifts of the responding firefighters. These 
aspects, among others, can be recognized when responding with feedback.
    NIOSH plans to review and assess the public comments and 
information provided to determine how, if applicable, the FFFIPP could 
be updated to incorporate human factors considerations into LODD 
investigations. Additional information is available on the NIOSH 
FFFIPP--About the Program Page (https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/fire/abouttheprogram/abouttheprogram.html). NIOSH will update this page and 
investigation processes as necessary to be consistent with the 
assessment of the information obtained from this RFI and other means of 
information-gathering.
    To reiterate, this RFI is intended to announce the opportunity for 
the public to provide NIOSH with information about considerations and 
approaches to assess human factors and, if applicable, inclusion in its 
FFFIPP LODD investigation and reporting processes for traumatic 
injuries. Information related to human factors and the fire service in 
the following areas is especially desired: the need for this 
information to be collected, specific human factors elements that 
should be considered, social science and psychological methods that 
could be employed during investigations, and objective reporting 
recommendations.

John J. Howard,
Director, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Health and 
Human Services.
[FR Doc. 2024-11059 Filed 5-20-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P