Firefighters don’t work 9-5. Its diverse workforce and working hours create unique challenges and lasting consequences if we do not address them.
Creating safer and more accommodating sleeping spaces may help alleviate chronic sleep loss commonly found in firefighters working long shifts. This should be a primary design choice for both remodels and new construction as better designed accommodations for both Men and Women can help address knowns risks of mental and physical health.
A few items in sleeping areas to consider should include:
Separate individual sleeping rooms with individual or “jack and Jill” style, if space and budget allows bathrooms.
Walls of the rooms should extend above the ceiling and be sealed to the floor or structure above to reduce sound transmission between spaces.
Specialized ramped Station Alerting systems and tones with softer voice messaging.
Ramped controlled lighting to allow eyes to adjust.
Individual apparatus specific bedroom alerting to keep from disrupting firefighters not required to respond.
Lighting focused on hallways and exit paths and not entire rooms.
Want to learn more?
Etica Group is well versed in this type of project with specific experience for design, planning and coordination of a dorm style bedroom renovation project. Firefighters at one station shared bunk rooms directly above the apparatus bays. This type of open bunk area had limited privacy for male and female employees and also did not accommodate different sleeping pattern. One additional risk - just by sleeping, firefighters could risk additional exposure to carcinogenic materials due to the adjacency to the apparatus bays.
The project was well managed on the anticipated time schedule and on budget. Click here to read a more in-depth overview of the project.
Comentários