12 | ESTFITNESS
Fit to fight? Evidence for a minimum occupational fitness standard for UK fire and rescue service personnel In February’s edition of Emergency Services Times, Justin Johnston, Chair of CFOA’s FireFit Steering Group and Deputy Chief Fire Officer, Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service, explored a range of personal thoughts and issues on the highly topical matter of firefighter fitness. Justin also highlighted the forthcoming research from CFOA’s FireFit Steering Group and the University of Bath, which was commissioned to specifically look at the physical demands placed upon UK Firefighters. Although Bath University’s perspective on the project doesn’t provide us with the complete picture to which Justin alluded, it does represent a significant step forward in terms of our understanding of UK firefighter fitness. Words: Andy Siddall PhD and James Bilzon PhD, Department for Health, University of Bath. Justin Johnson’s article earlier this year highlighted issues related to the age and fitness of UK firefighters and advocated a more detailed, ‘highly nuanced’ understanding of the full spectrum of firefighter health and lifestyle issues, such as the impact of shift patterns, lifestyle habits, gender based issues and the cumulative effects of exposure to airborne pollutants to name a few.
An occupational physiology team, based in the Department for Health at the University of Bath, has been working in partnership with the FireFit Steering Group and the Chief Fire Officers’ Association (CFOA) over the last two years. The study, specific to UK firefighters, demonstrates that
a single minimum cardiorespiratory fitness (VO2 max) standard of 42.3mLkg-1min-1 would help ensure safe and effective operational performance in UK fire and rescue service personnel.
“This research represents a significant step forward in terms of our understanding of UK Firefighter fitness.” Physical demands analysis Over a two-week period in April 2013, 62 firefighters were put through their paces at the Fire Service College, Moreton-in-Marsh, during a study that became the largest of its kind ever completed in Europe. Participating operational firefighters performed a number of standardised tasks preendorsed to simulate the minimum physical demands expected of any operational firefighter.
The tasks were undertaken by male, female, retained and wholetime firefighters ranging from 21 to 63 years of age.
Emergency Services Times August 2014
The tasks, by definition, were required to be essential for every firefighter, use standard fire and rescue service equipment and have a high level of simplicity and control.
Instead of typical breathing apparatus, however, firefighters wore a facemask and monitoring device, pre-calibrated to assess their oxygen uptake. A study of this nature is known as a ‘physical demands analysis’; an investigation designed to quantify the physical demand a given task or activity places on the body. This represents the ‘gold standard’ method for assessing the physical demands of a job, and by definition, allows an occupational fitness standard to be objectively established. A real concern From an occupational physiologists perspective, fitness is a paradigm that primarily relates to safety. Possessing the physical capacity to cope with the demands of the job is equally as important as any other factor, including the availability of appropriate protective equipment, both for the safety of the employee, their colleagues and the public they serve. Unfortunately, lower levels of fitness are associated with higher levels of exertion, which may not only lead to failure to perform work safely, but also increase the risk of musculoskeletal injury and/or a serious cardiac event. Indeed, the majority of on-duty fatalities are related to cardiovascular disease and occur during, or immediately following, an emergency response. The risks associated with sudden physical exertion among unfit personnel, is a very real concern. It is all too easy to assume that a physically active occupation maintains physical readiness for the job. This is not necessarily the case with intermittently active occupations. With such a
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