A quantification of the physiological demands of the army emergency responder in the Australian army

The Australian Defence Force is reviewing the physical demands of all employment categories in the Australian Army to establish valid and legally defensible assessments. The current assessments, performed in physical training attire, are not specific to job demands. Moreover, the fitness standards d...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inMilitary medicine Vol. 178; no. 5; pp. 487 - 494
Main Authors Tofari, Paul J, Laing Treloar, Alison K, Silk, Aaron J
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published England Oxford University Press 01.05.2013
Subjects
Adult
Anniversaries
Armed forces
Australia
Emergency Responders
Employment
Evacuations & rescues
Exercise - physiology
Female
Firefighters
Fires
Heart rate
Hemodynamics - physiology
Humans
Male
Metabolism
Military Personnel
Occupational Health
Physical fitness
Physical Fitness - physiology
Physiology
Simulation
Task Performance and Analysis
Vehicles
Ventilation
Australia
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Summary:The Australian Defence Force is reviewing the physical demands of all employment categories in the Australian Army to establish valid and legally defensible assessments. The current assessments, performed in physical training attire, are not specific to job demands. Moreover, the fitness standards decrease based on age and are lower for females, and as job requirements are constant, these assessments are counterintuitive. With regard to the Army Emergency Responder employment category, tasks of physical demand in the present study were selected through consultation with subject-matter experts. Participants consisted of 10 qualified Army Emergency Responder soldiers and three noncareer firefighters under instruction. Real-life firefighting scenarios were witnessed by researchers and helped form task simulations allowing measurement of heart rate and oxygen consumption. Peak oxygen consumption ranged from 21.8 ± 3.8 to 40.0 ± 3.4 mL kg(-1) min(-1) during cutting activities and a search and rescue task, respectively, representing values similar to or higher than the current entry standards. Manual handling tasks were also assessed, with the heaviest measured being two soldiers lifting a 37.7-kg Utility Trunk to 150 cm. The findings provide a quantitative assessment of the physiological demands of Army Emergency Responders, and highlight the need for change in current fitness assessments.
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ISSN:0026-4075
1930-613X
DOI:10.7205/MILMED-D-12-00423