Practice Exercise : Examining the Impact of Fatigue on the Severity of Fire Fighter Casualties
A recent report by the International Fire Chiefs Association revealed that between 2010 and 2013 fire departments nationally exhibited a 25% increase in crashes caused by fatigue.
This finding has compelled the Department of Homeland Security to examine the impact of fatigue among fire fighters on severity of fire fighter casualties.
The Department hypothesizes that fatigue may have a strong impact on the severity of fire fighter casualties, which, if it does, may compel the Department to develop policies that require departments to demonstrate measures to mitigate fatigue as a prerequisite for Homeland Security funding for various operations.
You have been assigned by the Department of Homeland Security to investigate the validity of the above hypothesis using the 2011 National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) dataset of fire fighter causalities for all fire departments throughout the United States.
Other factors that may impact the severity of fire fighter casualties include: age of the firefighter and number of prior calls in the past 24 hours. Using the correlation and multiple regression analysis, test the above hypothesis. Next, report your results and make a recommendation to the Department.