Abstract
Physical capacity has previously been deemed important for firefighters physical work capacity, and aerobic fitness, muscular strength, and muscular endurance are the most frequently investigated parameters of importance. Traditionally, bivariate and multivariate linear regression statistics have been used to study relationships between physical capacities and work capacities among firefighters. An alternative way to handle datasets consisting of numerous correlated variables is to use multivariate projection analyses, such as Orthogonal Projection to Latent Structures. The first aim of the present study was to evaluate the prediction and predictive power of field and laboratory tests, respectively, on firefighters’ physical work capacity on selected work tasks. Also, to study if valid predictions could be achieved without anthropometric data. The second aim was to externally validate selected models. The third aim was to validate selected models on firefighters’ and on civilians’. A total of 38 (26 men and 12 women) + 90 (38 men and 52 women) subjects were included in the models and the external validation, respectively. The best prediction (R2) and predictive power (Q2) of Stairs, Pulling, Demolition, Terrain, and Rescue work capacities included field tests (R2 = 0.73 to 0.84, Q2 = 0.68 to 0.82). The best external validation was for Stairs work capacity (R2 = 0.80) and worst for Demolition work capacity (R2 = 0.40). In conclusion, field and laboratory tests could equally well predict physical work capacities for firefighting work tasks, and models excluding anthropometric data were valid. The predictive power was satisfactory for all included work tasks except Demolition.
Highlights
Firefighters have varied duties, including operative tasks, service of materials, equipment and vehicles, engage in fire protective work, and within some fire and rescue services: give first aid in case of medical emergency calls.Work performance is a broad term, has different meanings within different disciplines, and includes several dimensions [1,2]
Performance are the use of fire protective clothing [3] and Breathing Apparatus (BA) [4,5,6,7], ergonomics and heavy equipment [8,9,10], increased body temperature [11], the time passing between turn-outs [12], physical work capacity [13,14,15,16,17,18], emotional stress [19], cognitive abilities [20], work-organizational and psychosocial factors, and perceived work-related strain among firefighters [21,22]
Additional missing data found in the training-set were for OBLA and lactate threshold (LT) treadmill speed, and OBLA and LT % HRmax: n = 4, OBLA % VO2max: n = 6 and % HRmax at 200 W cycling: n = 5
Summary
Firefighters have varied duties, including operative tasks (such as fighting fires and rescuing people and animals), service of materials, equipment and vehicles, engage in fire protective work, and within some fire and rescue services: give first aid in case of medical emergency calls.Work performance is a broad term, has different meanings within different disciplines, and includes several dimensions [1,2]. Prediction of Firefighters' Physical Work Capacity financial aspects of Winternet This does not alter the authors' adherence to the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. The load of firefighters’ protective gear reduces relative muscle strength, anaerobic capacity, and maximal aerobic power (VO2max: mLÁkg-1∙min-1) [26], theoretically reinforces the importance of a high physical capacity. A high aerobic capacity (VO2max: LÁmin-1) [7,17,27,28], VO2max (mLÁkg-1∙min-1) [13,17,29,30], as well as muscle strength and endurance [16,18,28,31,32,33,34,35,36] are of fundamental importance for firefighters’ physical work capacity. A low physical work capacity may reduce the safety of the individual firefighter, the colleague or the victim
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