Search

Objective: The physiological demands of 15 essential, physically demanding fire-fighting tasks were investigated to identify criterion tasks for bona fide recruit selection., Methods: A total of 51 operational firefighters participated in discrete, field-based occupational simulations, with physiological responses measured throughout., Results: The most stressful tasks were identified and classified according to dominant fitness attributes and movement patterns. Three movement classes (single-sided load carriage [5 tasks], dragging loads [4 tasks], and overhead pushing and holding objects [2 tasks]) and one mandatory strength task emerged. Seven criterion tasks were identified. Load holding and carriage dominated these movement patterns, yet no task accentuated whole-body endurance., Conclusion: Material handling movements from each classification must appear within a physical aptitude (selection) test for it to adequately represent the breadth of tasks performed by Australian urban firefighters.

Objective: In this third communication, the processes for converting criterion occupational tasks into bona fide pre-employment selection tests are presented using urban firefighters as the worked example., Methods: A total of 14 individuals participated in potential screening tests that targeted three loaded movement categories: single-sided load carriage (4 tests), dragging loads (2 tests), and overhead pushing and holding objects (5 tests)., Results: Seven tests emerged, one performed as an isolated pass/fail barrier test (ladder raise) and six incorporated into a sequential, timed circuit simulating hazmat incidents, ventilation fan carriage (stairs), motor-vehicle rescues, bushfire incidents, fire attacks, and a firefighter rescue., Conclusion: Because three tests provided predicted performance speeds to replicate the oxygen cost of firefighters performing the corresponding occupational simulations, notional performance thresholds could be projected and recommended for the final phase of this research.

Objective: This communication is the first of four describing the development of defensible firefighter-selection tests. The purpose was to identify a subset of essential, physically demanding tasks performed by contemporary urban firefighters., Methods: From existing procedural documentation and job analyses, 11 fire-station visits and interviews with 106 firefighters, and one focus-group meeting, 31 physically demanding tasks were identified and incorporated into a workforce survey. Using this tool, firefighters rated the importance, perceived difficulty, typical task durations, and annual performance frequency of each task., Results: Data from 989 respondents were analyzed, enabling a consolidation of these tasks into a subset of essential activities., Conclusions: These processes yielded a content-valid list of 15 essential, physically demanding tasks covering the full width of duties performed by urban firefighters from Australia's largest fire and rescue organization.

Objective: Firefighter physical aptitude tests were administered to unskilled subjects and operational firefighters to evaluate the impact that testing bias associated with gender, age, activity-specific skills, or task familiarity may have upon establishing performance thresholds., Methods: These tests were administered in sequence, simulating hazmat incidents, ventilation fan carriage (stairs), motor-vehicle rescues, bushfire incidents, fire attacks, and a firefighter rescue. Participants included two unskilled samples (N = 14 and 22) and 143 firefighters., Results: Firefighter performance was not significantly different from the unskilled subjects. Participants from both genders passed the test, with scores unrelated to performance skill or age; however, familiarization significantly improved performance when the test was repeated., Conclusion: These outcomes confirmed this test to be gender-, age-, and skill-neutral. Familiarization effects could be removed through performing a single, pre-selection trial of the test battery.

Objective: Benchmark data were sought for evaluating injury trends within Australian firefighters., Methods: Work-related injury data from Australia's largest urban fire and rescue organization were analyzed (2003 to 2012), with an emphasis on classification (occurrence, mechanism, agency, nature, and location) and demographic details., Results: Firefighters were injured on 6997 occasions (177 injuries per annum per 1000 full-time employees). The largest causal mechanism was muscular stress (74 injuries per 1000 full-time employees annually), with 62.1% of those incidents involving materials handling and slips, trips, and falls. No single mechanism could explain more than 20% of the injuries. The principal injury type involved sprains and strains. The most commonly injured sites were the knee, lower back, shoulder, and ankle., Conclusions: These observations provide a basis for intervention strategies that target sprains and strains associated with materials handling and slips, trips, and falls.

Objective: The influence of variations in exercise mode, thermal state, and load carriage on cardiac and ventilatory predictors of metabolic rate were investigated., Methods: Fifteen males were studied at rest and during whole-, upper-, and lower-body exercise (unloaded and loaded) under thermoneutral and hot conditions., Results: Ventilatory predictions were superior in thermoneutral (residual mean square error range: 0.04 to 0.17 L·min(-1) vs 0.21 to 0.36 L·min(-1)) and hot conditions (0.03 to 0.07 L·min(-1) vs 0.21 to 0.24 L·min(-1)). Predictions derived from whole- or lower-body exercise, and unloaded or loaded exercise could be interchanged without significant error. Nevertheless, a mode-specific prediction was required for upper-body work, and mild hyperthermia significantly reduced the precision of cardiac predictions., Conclusion: Ventilatory predictions were more precise, but errors from heart-rate predictions could be minimized by using thermal-state and exercise mode-specific predictions.