Exploring prevention and mitigation strategies to reduce the health impacts of occupational exposure to wildfires for wildland firefighters and related personnel: protocol of a scoping study

BACKGROUND: With an increase in wildfire activity across the globe and growing numbers of personnel involved each year, it is necessary to explore the health impacts of occupational exposure to wildfires and the practices and policies that can be implemented to mitigate these effects. The aim of this work is to (1) identify the impact occupational exposure to wildfires has on health outcomes including physical, mental, and social wellbeing; (2) examine the characteristics and effectiveness of mitigation strategies or policies to reduce negative health impacts as reported by current literature and reports; and (3) develop a program of research to address and understand the health impacts of occupational exposure to wildfires based on gaps in the literature and stakeholder priorities. METHODS: This scoping study will be conducted in two phases: (1) scoping literature review and (2) modified Delphi process. The literature review will follow a methodologically rigorous scoping review approach that includes (a) identifying the research question (and protocol development), (b) identifying literature (an iterative process), (c) selecting relevant studies, (d) extracting data into tables, and (e) synthesizing, summarizing, and reporting results. Alongside this, a modified Delphi process will be conducted to define priorities for wildland fire occupational health research. A partnership with the British Columbia (BC) Wildfire Service will enable exploring the appropriateness of identified mitigation strategies and health risks for the BC context. DISCUSSION: This two-phase approach will provide an in-depth review of the literature of the health impacts of occupational exposure to wildfires and identify mitigation strategies or policies implemented to protect workers and reduce negative health impacts. It is anticipated that these findings may provide recommendations for “quick wins” or initial action that can be implemented within the BC context to reduce negative health outcomes, and inform gaps in context-specific research that needs to be addressed through a strategic, collaborative research program over the next 5 years. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION: Open Science Framework osf.io/ugz4