The Smithers Institute at Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR) is undertaking a major study examining the work, well-being and quality of life of New York City firefighters.

The study is being directed by ILR Professor Samuel Bacharach, in cooperation with the Uniformed Firefighters Association (UFA) of Greater New York. It will focus on numerous issues of concern about firefighters, including stress, trauma, communication, relations at work, peer support, retirement, workplace culture, work-family conflict and substance abuse.

While done against the backdrop of the trauma of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the study will go beyond measuring effects of that specific event and try to give a broad picture of the working life of New York City firefighters. Several thousand firefighters will be surveyed. The full report is expected be completed in late spring 2003.

"It is hoped that the data accumulated in this study will help labor, management and all relevant parties develop a better understanding of the specific problems and needs of firefighters," said Bacharach, who is director of the ILR School's R. Brinkley Smithers Institute for Alcohol-Related Workplace Studies as well as the New York City-based Institute for Workplace Studies.

"This is the type of partnership between academia and labor that strengthens all of us," said Edward J. Lawler, dean of the ILR School. "I'm delighted because ILR, after all, is part of the New York City community." The school has offices in the city and elsewhere in New York state where faculty and staff conduct workplace-related research and offer training as part of its state contract college outreach mandate.

"The firefighters union is honored that the number one-ranked labor school in the U.S. and some of the finest minds in the world of researching workplace stresses have come to the table and offered their services to aid our firefighters," said Stephen Cassidy, president of the 8,500-member UFA. "Since Sept. 11, many people have wanted to study the firefighters, but this is the right team.

"Being a New York City firefighter is a difficult, dangerous and stressful job. We have to get beyond the romantic notion of firefighters somehow being invincible and get a real understanding of what they go through day in and day out," said Cassidy. "We expect that the information learned from this study will be vital."

Bacharach is the McKelvey-Grant Professor of Labor Management Relations at the ILR School. He has headed numerous research studies examining the work life of such groups as assembly-line workers, teachers, steamfitters, transportation workers, nursing home workers and retail workers. Currently, he and colleagues are involved in a five-year study for the National Institutes of Health, on substance abuse among retired workers.

Bacharach can be reached directly at sb22@cornell.edu , (607) 255-2772 or (212) 340-2850.