Assessing the effect of psychosocial and physical factors in the working environment on the development of stress related to firefighters' work

The task consisted in a study in 33 randomly selected units in the Mazowsze province, on 400 people employed as firefighter rescuers in rescue-extinguishing units of the State Fire Service.On the basis of a statistical analysis of the results (regression analysis) it was shown that stress in the work of a firefighter, understood as the number of complaints regarding one's mental health, is related to personal variables: age, tenure, participation in traumatic events, physical factors of the working environment as well as dimensions of the transaction leadership style: conditional rewarding and passive management by exception. It was also shown that the leadership style affects stress in the work of a firefighter and social rewards are among the most significant factors that reduce the psychological effects of stress in the occupational group under study. A checklist was developed with objective stress indicators and guidelines, and recommendations on individual and organizational methods of coping with stress in the work of a firefighter.