Exploring Canadian Career Firefighters' Understanding of the Return-to-Work Process After Musculoskeletal Injuries

Purpose: Firefighters perform dangerous and physically demanding work, increasing their risk of musculoskeletal injuries that can lead to work absences. Return-to-work procedures can help firefighters return-to-work sooner and safely. The purpose of this study was to explore what firefighters understand about return-to-work procedures in their workplaces, and what firefighters believe the facilitators and barriers to return-to-work are.

Methods: Thirty-eight Canadian career firefighters were recruited for semi-structured interviews. Qualitative descriptive methods were used to analyze the transcripts. Two researchers performed the inductive coding and thematic analysis.

Results: Five themes were identified: 1. Variation in the return-to-work process knowledge among firefighters based on their experiences; 2. Accessible medical resources and treatments to support injury recovery; 3. Light duties must be meaningful and suitable; 4. Pressures to return-to-work too soon may lead to negative consequences; and 5. Heavy physical demands of firefighting may become a barrier for return-to-work. 'Factors affecting RTW depended on personal experiences and context' was the overarching theme identified, as many reported facilitators for return-to-work were also reported as barriers in different contexts. There was a variation in the experiences and understanding of return-to-work.

Conclusion: There is a lack of knowledge of the return-to-work processes. Firefighters require access to clear return-to-work policies and procedures and treatments that are targeted to firefighting duties to support recovery from injuries and regain physical abilities after an injury. Firefighters must be able to perform all essential duties before returning to firefighting work, as returning to work too soon can lead to further injury.