1,551 ambulance workers and 229 police officers took part in the research. Using internationally validated tools, the research highlights the demanding nature of frontline emergency roles and identifies key psychosocial risks affecting health, safety, and workplace culture.

The findings can help first response organisations to identify and address psychosocial risks at work, and promote good practices to improve first responders’ psychosocial health and wellbeing.

Key findings

• High emotional demands are the most prevalent psychosocial risk reported in both groups, particularly among younger workers, those who regularly work night shifts, and people who are frontline workers. Emotional demands and role conflicts are consistently linked to increased stress, burnout, and sleep disturbances.
• Wellbeing scores indicate that a substantial proportion of first responders are at risk of poor mental health. 29% of ambulance workers and nearly 48% of police officers who responded scored below the WHO-5 wellbeing threshold.
• Poor Psychosocial Safety Climate (PSC) is a critical issue. Both groups scored below the benchmark associated with healthy workplace environments, with 44% of ambulance workers and 67% of police officers falling into the high-risk category.
• Exposure to offensive behaviours like threats of violence, physical violence, and bullying is widespread, with over half of respondents in both sectors reporting such experiences. Long working hours appear to be associated with an increase of self-reported experience of offensive behaviours.
• Low recognition and support from leadership are common concerns among long-serving staff and those in supervisory roles.
• Meaning of work and a sense of community (ie being part of the team) were highly rated among ambulance and police workers. These are potential key protective factors for improving psychosocial health and wellbeing in these sectors. 

Read the reports