National Standards for Workforce Protection in Trauma-Exposed Professions
The American Board of First Responder Behavioral Healthcare (FRBH) is the independent national standards-setting and accreditation body for Occupational Psychological Hazard Protection (OPHP) across trauma-exposed public safety professions.
FRBH establishes, maintains, and oversees the National Standard for Occupational Psychological Hazard Protection and administers the accreditation framework supporting organizational implementation.
Within the FRBH framework, qualifying Occupational Psychological Hazard Exposure creates an organizational responsibility to activate Occupational Psychological Hazard Protection (OPHP).
FRBH accreditation evaluates organizational conformity with the National Standard—not clinical treatment, healthcare providers, or individual employee outcomes.
FRBH establishes, maintains, and oversees the National Standard for Occupational Psychological Hazard Protection and administers the accreditation framework supporting organizational implementation.
Within the FRBH framework, qualifying Occupational Psychological Hazard Exposure creates an organizational responsibility to activate Occupational Psychological Hazard Protection (OPHP).
FRBH accreditation evaluates organizational conformity with the National Standard—not clinical treatment, healthcare providers, or individual employee outcomes.
Why FRBH Exist
Public safety professionals are routinely exposed to occupational psychological hazards as a condition of service. While national systems exist to address physical, chemical, biological, and operational hazards, no nationally consistent accreditation framework has existed to evaluate whether organizations have workforce protection systems in place for predictable psychological hazard exposure.
FRBH was established to close that gap.
FRBH sets national organizational standards for Occupational Psychological Hazard Protection (OPHP) and evaluates whether trauma-exposed organizations have the governance, activation, oversight, and accountability systems necessary to protect personnel following qualifying exposure.
Predictable Exposure Requires Predictable Protection
In trauma-exposed professions, repeated exposure to critical incidents, human suffering, fatalities, serious injuries, and other operationally significant events is an inherent occupational condition of the work environment—not an isolated or unexpected occurrence.
The National Standard is designed for trauma-exposed public safety environments where exposure to occupational psychological hazards is a predictable condition of work.
The FRBH National Standard establishes organizational expectations designed to help agencies implement predefined workforce protection systems that activate following qualifying Occupational Psychological Hazard Exposure.
Workforce protection should not depend primarily on self-disclosure, individual recognition of distress, or voluntary help-seeking behavior. Qualifying Occupational Psychological Hazard Exposure creates an organizational responsibility to activate Occupational Psychological Hazard Protection (OPHP).
Trauma-Exposed Organizations Served by the
FRBH Framework
The FRBH Framework was developed for organizations in which repeated exposure to traumatic events, human suffering, fatalities, violence, disasters, and other occupational psychological hazards is an inherent and predictable condition of work.
The FRBH Framework is profession-neutral and exposure-based.
Organization Categories
🚒 Fire Service
🚑 Emergency Medical Services (EMS)
🚔 Law Enforcement
📞 Public Safety Communications / Dispatch
🔒 Corrections
🌲 Wildland Fire
🏛️ Emergency Management
🛡️ Federal Public Safety Organizations
The FRBH Framework is designed to support organizational workforce protection across trauma-exposed professions while allowing each organization to define its own protection systems, operational procedures, and available resources.
