20 | ESTFITNESS
A ‘wake-up call’ for firefighter fitness As the Chair of FireFit, the Chief Fire Officers’ Association (CFOA) group established to focus upon the issues of firefighter fitness and wellbeing, I am often asked for my personal opinion on the highly topical question of age and fitness, typically expressed as ‘Do you think it’s right that firefighters should have to work operationally beyond the age of 55?’ I suspect a simple yes or no wouldn’t suffice and to be honest it shouldn’t. In many ways my answer is affected by context or the exact way in which the question is phrased. The response should be highly nuanced; in fact the absence of nuance in the form of reductionist ‘sound bites’ is currently delivering little more than rhetoric. So for what it’s worth, and you’ll be the judge, here is my answer. Words: Justin Johnston, Chair, CFOA’s FireFit Steering Group and Deputy Chief Fire Officer, Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service. Fire fighting is a highly skilled and highly demanding profession. It makes its demands in physically and mentally challenging environments at erratic intensities and at largely unpredictable times. As such a professional firefighter needs to be able to respond at a moment’s notice with a sharp mind and significant physical ability. This physical ability is all encompassing and has to be the right blend of strength, endurance, speed and flexibility. The discipline of fire fighting is the heptathlon of the emergency response world.
Testing activities to inform the current project work Photo: Gary Bankhead | CFOA’s FireFit Steering Group.
Of course this applies to all firefighters irrespective of duty system, whole-time or retained and, to a greater or lesser extent, to all roles. The excellent Dr Tony Williams report, which is often quoted but evidently not as frequently properly read, provides us with a really clear summary of where we are and it does so by comparing our workforce to the general population. But, we are not like the general population, or at least that’s what I would have thought. Unfortunately though – WE ARE. Firefighter age is increasing This is borne out in various studies including the latest research being undertaken in a partnership between FireFit and the University of Bath. Significantly this evidence is not simply from correlations in BMI (body mass index) but also health bio markers, disease prevalence and general poor lifestyle habits. It’s important to also note that this sits in a context where whole-time recruitment has stagnated for a number of years meaning the average firefighter is in their early forties with very few at the younger (naturally fitter) end of the spectrum which, with austerity, looks set to continue for some time. Without immediate intervention my opinion is we are on a collision course akin to an approaching asteroid. It’s 10 to 15 years distant but those looking through the telescope can see it; and simply
introducing regular fitness testing will not avert it. The key to reducing the impact will need to be far more wide-ranging and it must start now. Fitness decline in women Another seldom mentioned fact is the significantly disproportionate affect there will be on women firefighters. There is little historical data to go on here in terms of UK women firefighter longevity but from the Williams report we can see that the decline is predicted to be far starker. A ray of hope within the latest research seems to suggest that women firefighters already work hard to ensure they remain fit and many do so ahead of their male colleagues so the education to change is perhaps not required to affect change as much as it is with men, however there are other potential gender specific ageing related complications for women such as osteoporosis related to the menopause. Prepare for the future We need to see the Williams report and the current studies by the British Heart Foundation and the FireFit/Bath University as a wake up call. This information can help us to prepare for the future; it will give us the tools to plan interventions and health strategies and point us to where we need to do more work and understand interrelated issues such as the design of shift patterns or the compounding effects of workplace stress.
“Without immediate intervention my opinion is we are on a collision course akin to an approaching asteroid.” Currently just one percent of firefighters work on beyond the age of 55 and clearly at the moment they are electing to do so rather than being compelled, so they don’t really provide a useful comparator to what we can expect in the future. A better indicator sadly appears to be the general population so we need to act now and act radically if we want to avoid the worst of predictions. Cultural change needed Inevitably we will see more ill health retirements, more chronic diseases and more degenerative conditions as a greater proportion of the workforce
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Justin Johnston opening last October’s FireFit Conference. Photo: Gary Bankhead | CFOA’s FireFit Steering Group.
remains beyond the age of 55 in 10 to 15 years time. The size of this will be dependant on what measures we put in place now. As I said earlier, it will need to be much more than regular fitness testing. It will need to be a cultural change for firefighters and for fire and rescue services. Firefighters will need to consider fitness and lifestyle in a much more focused and serious way and so too fire and rescue services will need to think seriously about how they use and support their most valuable assets with the right shift patterns, health screening, health promotion, values, rehabilitation and culture. Of course many are already good at doing this but the evidence tells me we need to all be great at it. It’s time to have a serious holistic look at firefighter health and fitness that draws together emerging evidence of the factors that influence their long-term health prospects. This emerging work includes the prevalence of heart disease among firefighters, the increased risk of heart attacks related to fire fighting duties and long-term cumulative exposure to airborne pollutants, the impact of shift work and the general lifestyles of firefighters in the UK today. It’s only when we have such a rounded picture will we be able to say with any degree of certainty what the prognosis is and make coordinated and complementary decisions as to how best to address it. I look forward to receiving the final outcomes of the FireFit/University of Bath research as I believe it will help us to respond to some of the issues I have described, however I don’t think it will be the panacea; moreover, it will be the next steps of a long journey. The FireFit and University of Bath research project is due to present its initial report in April 2014. www.firefitsteeringgroup.co.uk
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