This paper presents the results of an experimental study how objective and subjective negative occupational factors affect individual and personal characteristics of fire-fighters and rescuers. Objective negative occupational factors are defined as external factors that make a direct threat to life and health, such as: unpredictable nature of accident rescue operations, novelty effect, danger, threat to life, time deficit, etc. Subjective factors refer to emotional and personal experiences: responsibility, high level of neuro-psychic stress, psychological climate within the team, etc. Those factors provided the basis of the questionnaire developed by O. L. Uzun, thanks to which the total sample of volunteers (86 people) was divided into two groups: group A recognized objective negative factors as more significant in their professional activities while group B, on the contrary, considered that subjective negative factors exert a more significant influence. Apart from the above-mentioned questionnaire, we used “Schulte’s Tables”, “Red-Black Tables” of Gorbov, professional motivation study technique by Catalin Zamfir (modified of A. A. Rean), R. Amthauer’s Intelligence Structure Test, and the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire by R. Cattel, all of which allowed us to make conclusions about individual characteristics of the respondents. Fire-fighters and rescuers, who identified objective negative factors as the most significant, are marked by high work efficiency and fast adaptability; practical thinking, associated with the ability to quickly solve any arising problem; well-developed verbal skills; emotional robustness and, as a result, stable behavior, calmness and self-confidence. For firefighters and rescuers who marked subjective negative factors as the most significant typical characteristics are: rapid shift of attention; inductive speech thinking and accuracy of verbal formulations; ability to combine and argue relying on common sense; internal motivation for professional activities. Having studied relationships between personal characteristics of the volunteers and their assessments of negative occupational factors, we drew the following conclusions: 1. Objective negative factors have a direct impact on verbal skills, i. e. the stronger those negative factors affect, the more pronounced are practical thinking and communication skills. 2. Objective negative factors make a reverse affect on internal professional motivation, adaptability and emotional robustness, i. e. influenced by objective negative factors, the focus on the professional process decreases, the ability to quickly join in deteriorates, and emotional instability develops. 3. Subjective negative factors have a direct impact on internal professional motivation, i. e. subjective negative factors are all the more effective the more valuable the content of professional activity is for the volunteers, the easier they feel to adaptability and the more developed their caution and anxiety.