Mortality of fire fighters in Western Australia.

All except 17 (1.7%) of 990 fire fighters employed by the Western Australian Fire Brigade between 1 October 1939 and 31 December 1978 were successfully followed up to 31 December 1978. Mortality from all causes was less than expected (SMR 0.80 with 95% confidence interval 0.67 to 0.96). There was evidence of the healthy worker effect but none that mortality increased with increasing duration of employment. A small proportional excess of deaths from road traffic accidents ( SPMR 1.66) appeared to be unrelated to fire service. Deaths from other accidents, poisonings, and violence were significantly less than expected (SMR 0.35 with 95% confidence interval 0.10 to 0.90) and may indicate an effect of training and experience on accident proneness. There was no evidence of increased mortality from cardiovascular or respiratory disease, or from any other cause.

Clean Air and Noise Abatement Branch, Public Health Department, Western Australia.

Whole blood lead levels, free erythrocyte protoporphyrin (FEP) concentrations, and hair lead levels were measured in 181 schoolchildren resident in and around the town of Northampton, Western Australia, where tailings from a lead mine have been used extensively for ground surfacing and other purposes. Mean blood lead levels were 0.68 mumol/L (14.0 micrograms/100 mL) in boys and 0.5 mumol/L (10.4 micrograms/100 mL) in girls, the highest being 2.27 mumol/L (47 micrograms/100 mL). Nine children (5%) had blood lead levels above 1.21 mumol/L (25 micrograms/100 mL) and four had levels above 1.21 mumol/L (25 micrograms/100 mL) and four had levels above 1.45 mumol/L (30 micrograms/100 mL). Four of these children had FEP levels above 2.0 mumol/L. There was a statistically significant difference between the mean blood lead levels of children resident in the town (man blood lead level, 0.63 mumol/L (13.1 micrograms/100 mL)) compared with those resident out of the town 0.55 mumol/L (11.3 micrograms/100 mL). The presence of lead tailings in the town may account for the small difference.