{"id":6332,"date":"2020-09-29T17:50:13","date_gmt":"2020-09-29T15:50:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.red-on-line-ehs.co.uk\/ehs\/?p=6332"},"modified":"2025-08-20T15:28:32","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T13:28:32","slug":"a-year-after-the-lubrizol-fire-what-are-the-risks-to-firefighters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.red-on-line.com\/gb\/blog\/a-year-after-the-lubrizol-fire-what-are-the-risks-to-firefighters\/","title":{"rendered":"A year after the Lubrizol Fire \u2014 What are the risks to firefighters?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h5>Doubts since 2007<\/h5> In 2007, the IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer, an agency that reports to the WHO) published a monograph&nbsp;<strong><span>classifying the firefighting profession as \u201cprobably carcinogenic\u201d<\/span><\/strong><span>. This means that epidemiological arguments are pointing to a higher risk of cancer among firefighters but not enough evidence to conclude that there is definite causality. Although fire fumes contain proven carcinogens such as fine particles, PAHs and other toxic substances for the cardio-respiratory system such as nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide, epidemiological studies come up against a number of obstacles preventing them from being formally conclusive. In particular, the levels of exposure are difficult to re-establish and the risks observed in these studies, although significantly high in number, are relatively weak, leaving room for bias. Besides, very few studies have been able to assess the long-term risks due to a lack of organised medical supervision following the end of active service.<\/span> <h5>The current situation<\/h5> Several overviews of what we know about the risks incurred by firefighters have recently been published. They consistently conclude the following:&nbsp;<strong>we can observe significantly high risks, but the causal link<\/strong> between fire fumes and other factors such as arduousness and psychosocial aspects <strong>can\u2019t be affirmed with any certainty.<\/strong>  For example, the Anses<em> (French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health &amp; Safety)<\/em> has just published a report on this very issue. So has the IRSST <em>(Occupational Health and Safety Research Institute)<\/em> in Quebec. A recent article analysing the available publications indicates several parts of the body with a high risk of developing cancer among firefighters, including the colon, rectum, prostate, testicles, bladder, thyroid, pleura, skin and blood. Similarly, a hazard assessment&nbsp;<a>study<\/a> concludes that there are high risks of cancers and cardiovascular diseases. <h5>The implications for prevention<\/h5> These different studies, although not entirely conclusive, are sufficient to counsel <strong>a reinforcement of the preventive measures for firefighters.<\/strong>  Firstly, with regard to <strong>primary prevention<\/strong>, by being thorough in the use of protective equipment and developing the courses of action in the event of a fire. Thus, the recent study carried out by the Cnam <em>[<\/em><em>Conservatoire national des arts et m\u00e9tiers<\/em><em>] <\/em>showed that a new approach known as a mitigative attack could reduce the risks.  Secondly, in terms of <strong>secondary prevention<\/strong>, by reinforcing the medical and epidemiological supervision of the exposed firefighters.  Firefighters\u2019 honour involves taking risks so as to save lives. There\u2019s no reason why they should be exposed to avoidable risks.  <img \/>William Dab is a Professor and Health and Safety Chair at&nbsp;<a>Cnam<\/a>&nbsp;\u2013 France, where he trains specialists in occupational health and environmental risks, notably through an engineering course in risk management. He is a doctor specialised in epidemiology. His career has been entirely devoted to health and safety, whether it be developing tools for risk assessment, monitoring and management. As a former Director-General of Health, he was a member of the WHO Executive Committee and Chairman of the European Environment and Health Committee for the WHO European Region. He has also published a number of books related to health and safety.  If you have any questions to&nbsp;<a>William Dab<\/a>&nbsp;and the&nbsp;<a>Red-on-line<\/a>&nbsp;team, please leave them in the comments section, or you can get in touch with us on social media via LinkedIn and Twitter:&nbsp;<a><strong>@HSE_Rol<\/strong><\/a><strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>and&nbsp;<a><strong>@DabWilliam<\/strong><\/a>.   <span class=\"separator separator--center separator--gradient separator--md\"><\/span>\n\n\n<h4><span class=\"has-inline-color has-color-5-color\"><strong>EHS regulatory compliance and monitoring \u2013 an expert solution to ensure your organization\u2019s compliance <\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Stay ahead of evolving HSE requirements across 300+ jurisdictions, with daily updates curated by our in-house legal experts.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"bttn-align-center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.red-on-line.com\/gb\/solutions\/regulatory-compliance-and-monitoring\/\" target=\"_self\" class=\"bttn  bttn--md\"><span class=\"bttn__cont-label-icon\"><span class=\"bttn__label\">Discover Red-on-line\u2019s regulatory compliance and monitoring solution.<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A year after the devastating fire ravaged the <strong>Lubrizol<\/strong> plant in Rouen, France we take a look into the emerging issues related to <strong>the health of around 900 firefighters who combated the blaze at the plant<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6338,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[74,605,76,601,537],"tags":[551,158,448],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A year after the Lubrizol Fire \u2014 What are the risks to firefighters? - Red On line (COM)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.red-on-line.com\/gb\/blog\/a-year-after-the-lubrizol-fire-what-are-the-risks-to-firefighters\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A year after the Lubrizol Fire \u2014 What are the risks to firefighters? - Red On line (COM)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A year after the devastating fire ravaged the Lubrizol plant in Rouen, France we take a look into the emerging issues related to the health of around 900 firefighters who combated the blaze at the plant.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.red-on-line.com\/gb\/blog\/a-year-after-the-lubrizol-fire-what-are-the-risks-to-firefighters\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Red On line (COM)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-09-29T15:50:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-08-20T13:28:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"serviceweb\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.red-on-line.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.red-on-line.com\/\",\"name\":\"Red On line (COM)\",\"description\":\"Un site utilisant Les sites de Red On Line\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.red-on-line.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.red-on-line.com\/gb\/blog\/a-year-after-the-lubrizol-fire-what-are-the-risks-to-firefighters\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"\",\"contentUrl\":\"\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.red-on-line.com\/gb\/blog\/a-year-after-the-lubrizol-fire-what-are-the-risks-to-firefighters\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.red-on-line.com\/gb\/blog\/a-year-after-the-lubrizol-fire-what-are-the-risks-to-firefighters\/\",\"name\":\"A year after the Lubrizol Fire \u2014 What are the risks to firefighters? - Red On line (COM)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.red-on-line.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.red-on-line.com\/gb\/blog\/a-year-after-the-lubrizol-fire-what-are-the-risks-to-firefighters\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-09-29T15:50:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-20T13:28:32+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.red-on-line.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b77f48b15628d22202d65591564dd701\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.red-on-line.com\/gb\/blog\/a-year-after-the-lubrizol-fire-what-are-the-risks-to-firefighters\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.red-on-line.com\/gb\/blog\/a-year-after-the-lubrizol-fire-what-are-the-risks-to-firefighters\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.red-on-line.com\/gb\/blog\/a-year-after-the-lubrizol-fire-what-are-the-risks-to-firefighters\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.red-on-line.com\/gb\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A year after the Lubrizol Fire \u2014 What are the risks to firefighters?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.red-on-line.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b77f48b15628d22202d65591564dd701\",\"name\":\"serviceweb\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.red-on-line.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c042920bbf7e7978c4a1e437e8e98be0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c042920bbf7e7978c4a1e437e8e98be0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"serviceweb\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/smerle.modern.red-on-line.sbx.dev2.gisi-interactive.net\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.red-on-line.com\/gb\/blog\/author\/serviceweb\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A year after the Lubrizol Fire \u2014 What are the risks to firefighters? - Red On line (COM)","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.red-on-line.com\/gb\/blog\/a-year-after-the-lubrizol-fire-what-are-the-risks-to-firefighters\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"A year after the Lubrizol Fire \u2014 What are the risks to firefighters? - Red On line (COM)","og_description":"A year after the devastating fire ravaged the Lubrizol plant in Rouen, France we take a look into the emerging issues related to the health of around 900 firefighters who combated the blaze at the plant.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.red-on-line.com\/gb\/blog\/a-year-after-the-lubrizol-fire-what-are-the-risks-to-firefighters\/","og_site_name":"Red On line (COM)","article_published_time":"2020-09-29T15:50:13+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-08-20T13:28:32+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"serviceweb","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.red-on-line.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.red-on-line.com\/","name":"Red On line (COM)","description":"Un site utilisant Les sites de Red On Line","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.red-on-line.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.red-on-line.com\/gb\/blog\/a-year-after-the-lubrizol-fire-what-are-the-risks-to-firefighters\/#primaryimage","url":"","contentUrl":""},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.red-on-line.com\/gb\/blog\/a-year-after-the-lubrizol-fire-what-are-the-risks-to-firefighters\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/www.red-on-line.com\/gb\/blog\/a-year-after-the-lubrizol-fire-what-are-the-risks-to-firefighters\/","name":"A year after the Lubrizol Fire \u2014 What are the risks to firefighters? - Red On line (COM)","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.red-on-line.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.red-on-line.com\/gb\/blog\/a-year-after-the-lubrizol-fire-what-are-the-risks-to-firefighters\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2020-09-29T15:50:13+00:00","dateModified":"2025-08-20T13:28:32+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.red-on-line.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b77f48b15628d22202d65591564dd701"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.red-on-line.com\/gb\/blog\/a-year-after-the-lubrizol-fire-what-are-the-risks-to-firefighters\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.red-on-line.com\/gb\/blog\/a-year-after-the-lubrizol-fire-what-are-the-risks-to-firefighters\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.red-on-line.com\/gb\/blog\/a-year-after-the-lubrizol-fire-what-are-the-risks-to-firefighters\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.red-on-line.com\/gb\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A year after the Lubrizol Fire \u2014 What are the risks to firefighters?"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.red-on-line.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b77f48b15628d22202d65591564dd701","name":"serviceweb","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.red-on-line.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c042920bbf7e7978c4a1e437e8e98be0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c042920bbf7e7978c4a1e437e8e98be0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"serviceweb"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/smerle.modern.red-on-line.sbx.dev2.gisi-interactive.net"],"url":"https:\/\/www.red-on-line.com\/gb\/blog\/author\/serviceweb\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.red-on-line.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6332"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.red-on-line.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.red-on-line.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.red-on-line.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.red-on-line.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6332"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.red-on-line.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20755,"href":"https:\/\/www.red-on-line.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6332\/revisions\/20755"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.red-on-line.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.red-on-line.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.red-on-line.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.red-on-line.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}