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FFFIPP – About the Program
In 1998, Congress recognized the need to address the national problem of work-related firefighter deaths, and funded NIOSH to implement a firefighter safety initiative.
The NIOSH Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program (FFFIPP) conducts independent investigations of firefighter line-of-duty deaths and recommends ways to prevent deaths and injuries.
We are a public health program and do not:
- enforce compliance with state or federal job safety and health standards
- determine fault or place blame on fire departments or individual firefighters.
Since our program’s start, we have investigated about 40 percent of firefighter deaths. We prioritize investigations using a decision flow chart [PDF – 227 KB]. Investigation priorities may change based on the review of fatality data for leading risks to firefighters and on fire service stakeholder input.
To learn more about the investigations please see Investigations Steps.
We participate on a number of National Fire Protection Association and other consensus standard setting committees. This allows us to directly submit key findings from our investigations to organizations and committees best positioned to influence change to improve firefighter safety and health.