Citation

Gumieniak RJ, Gledhill N, Jamnik VK. Ergonomics 2018; 61(10): 1311-1323.

Affiliation

Norman Bethune College, York University , School of Kinesiology & Health Science, Faculty of Health , Toronto , Ontario , M3J 1P3 , Canada.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/00140139.2018.1462408

PMID

29628002

Abstract

Developing the Canadian initial attack (IA) wildland fire fighter (WFF) physical employment standard (WFX-FIT) began in a previous investigation (Gumieniak et al. 2018) with a physical demands analysis in which hand and back carrying a 28.5 kg pump, back carrying a 25 kg hose pack and advancing charged hose were identified as the critical IA emergency tasks. In the present study, a circuit was created incorporating simulations of the critical tasks with faster completion times required for provinces with more arduous terrains. The oxygen cost (mean ± SD VO₂ mL∙kg^-1∙min^-1) of performing IA WFF tasks sequentially on the job was 37±6 compared to 37±4 when performing the WFX-FIT, indicating strong construct validity. Content validation ratings comparing the likeness of on-the-job tasks to simulated tasks in the WFX-FIT provided strong agreement. These validations confirm that the physical demands involved in performing the WFX-FIT are the same as IA wildland fire fighting. Practitioner Summary: This paper details the process used to develop and validate the physical employment standard for jurisdictional employment and national exchange of IA WFF. The range of cut-scores reflects the differences in jurisdictional physical demands due to terrain difficulty, fire management policy on fire risk and forest value index.

Language: en

Keywords

BFOR; fitness screening; job readiness; public safety