The study of fire department dispatchers’ professional job skills in Japan

Abstract

Introduction: Dispatchers’ professional skills have not been sufficiently recognized as important in fire service organizations.
Objectives: Dispatchers’ professional skills in job performance and mental health were empirically examined.
Methods: A postal survey was conducted after requesting the cooperation of 21 firefighting headquarters/fire departments of 10 prefectures in Japan, and 272 responses were collected.
Results: Factor analysis identified “dispatching skills” and “communication skills with reporters” as dispatcher’s professional skills. Multiple regression analysis results indicated that anxiety and dispatching failures decreased when the dispatcher had better skills. Moreover, dispatching skills had a significant positive effect on self-assessment of ability, and communication skills with reporters had a significantly positive effect on mental health and job satisfaction.
Discussion and conclusions: Both types of skills are indispensable for the appropriate job performance of dispatchers. However, dispatchers only recognized dispatching skills as a professional skill. However, the skills of communicating with reporters are also crucial for improving mental health and motivation for the dispatcher’s job.