Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Report: Engineer Dies from Heart Attack and Cardiac Arrest in Indiana.

摘要

On July 9, 2011, a 50-year-old male volunteer fire department (FD) engineer (the Engineer) began a 40-hour technical rescue and structural collapse training program. The training occurred on three consecutive weekends for 8 hours each day. The training occurred when the weather was hot and humid; daily heat indexes ranged from 84.5 degrees Fahrenheit (F) to 103 deg. F. In addition, the Engineer had a number of medical conditions that should have restricted his work as a structural fire fighter according the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). After the first weekend of training, the Engineer expressed no cardiac or respiratory symptoms, but according to others at the training program, he did not appear well. During the second and third weekends of training, July 16-17, 2011, and July 23-24, 2011, the Engineer reduced his level of participation because of nausea. After the training, he missed 2 1/2 days of work (as a commercial truck driver) because he was not feeling well. On July 30, 2011, 6 days after the last training session, the Engineer was hospitalized for respiratory distress. After 6 days of treatment in the hospital, the Engineer suffered a heart attack and subsequent cardiac arrest on August 5, 2011. Cardiac resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful, and the Engineer died. The death certificate listed 'cardiopulmonary arrest due to hypercapneic/hypoxic respiratory failure due to obesity-induced hypoventilation' as the cause of death. No autopsy was performed. Given the Engineer's underlying pulmonary problems, NIOSH investigators concluded that the physical stress of the training in elevated environmental temperatures may have contributed to the respiratory decline that preceded his heart attack and death.