Indicators of the risk of death when performing professional duties in personnel of the operational services of the EMERCOM of Russia
Authors: Evdokimov V. I. , Bobrinev E. V. , Kondashov A. A. 
Published: January 2023

Relevance. Extreme conditions of activity of the personnel of the operational units of the EMERCOM of Russia while on duty for emergency elimination of the consequences of accidents, disasters, fires and other emergency situations (ES), probably cause excessive stress on the functional reserves of the body, along with professionally accelerated diseases, erroneous actions, injuries and even death.

Intention – To conduct an analysis of the risks of death by causes of fatal injuries, type of activity, categories of personnel and operational services of the EMERCOM of Russia for 10 years from 2012 to 2021.

Methodology. The indicators of fatal injuries among personnel (military, employees with special ranks, and workers) of the operational units of the EMERCOM of Russia were obtained from the statistical data bank on morbidity, injuries, disability and death in the line of duty. Deaths of personnel were correlated with activities (liquidation of ES consequences, education and sports, everyday activities), 18 circumstances of injury were classified by causes (technical, organizational, psychophysiological and dangerous ES factors). Risks of death were calculated per 100 thousand ( ×10–5) personnel. Arithmetic means and their errors (M ± m) are indicated.

 Results and Discussion. Over 10 years (2012–2021), 202 staff members of the EMERCOM of Russia died on duty due to fatal injuries, on average (20 ± 3) people per year. The average annual risk of death in the operational services of the EMERCOM of Russia was (9.49 ± 1.37) ∙ 10–5, for male workers in the Russian economy it was almost the same, (9.84 ± 0.56) ∙ 10–5, for firefighters from the created array from 32 countries – statistically significantly lower, (2.27 ± 0.29) ∙ 10–5 (p < 0.001). Technical factors were associated with (0.87 ± 0.58) ∙ 10–5 risk of death and accounted for 9.4% of fatalities; organizational factors – with (1.09 ± 0.43) ∙ 10–5 risk of death and 11.4% of fatalities; psychophysiological factors – with (3.70 ± 0.32) ∙ 10–5 risk of death and 39.1 % of fatalities; ES hazards – with (3.83 ± 0.85) ∙ 10–5 risk of death and 41.1% fatalities. Operational activities were associated with (5.31 ± 1.26) ∙ 10–5 risk of death and 55.9 % of all the fatalities; training and sports – with (0.75 ± 0.24) ∙ 10–5 and 8 % of all the fatalities; daily activities were associated with (3.44 ± 0.44) ∙ 10–5 risk of death and 36.1 % all the fatalities.

For the operational staff, risk of death turned out to be (9.06 ± 1.06) ∙ 10–5 and 63.9 %, respectively, for the prevention staff – (5.61 ± 1.42) ∙ 10–5 and 4 %, respectively; for the technical staff – (13.83 ± 5.96) ∙ 10–5 and 15.8 %, respectively, for managers – (10.26 ± 2.64) ∙ 10–5 and 16.8 %, respectively. For the personnel of the Federal Fire Service of the EMERCOM of Russia the risk of death was (7.80 ± 0.74) ∙ 10–5 and 73.8 %, respectively; for the Rescue military units of the EMERCOM of Russia – (37.32 ±19.10) ∙ 10–5 and 13.4 %, respectively; for the Search and Rescue and Emergency rescue units of the EMERCOM of Russia – (20.45 ± 8.13) ∙ 10–5 and 5 %, respectively, for Paramilitary mine rescue units of the EMERCOM of Russia – (38.65 ± 20.14) ∙ 10–5 and 6.4 %, respectively; for the State Inspectorate for Small Vessels of the EMERCOM of Russia – ( 5.36 ± 3.81) ∙ 10–5 and 1.5 %, respectively. The risk of death was low for prevention personnel, medium for operational staff and management personnel, and high for technical personnel. A low risk of death was observed among the personnel of the State Inspectorate for Small Vessels of the EMERCOM of Russia, medium risk was observed among the personnel of the Federal Fire Service of the EMERCOM of Russia, and a high risk was observed in the other analyzed services.

Conclusion. Injury prevention will help improve the safety of personnel, and taking into account the level, structure and dynamics of injuries will optimize the forces and means of the Russian EMERCOM.