Get Fit For Duty – The research journey so far.

Welcome to the first blog post on Get Fit For Duty. I intend to provide a new blog post monthly, focusing on a different health and wellbeing topics related to firefighting. These blog posts will be a combination of my experiences as a fitness advisor since 2013, including strategies I have implement to help firefighters increase their fitness levels and critical analysis of similar scientific research in this field.

For this first blog, I thought that it would be a prime opportunity to provide you with a summary of the research projects I completed during my PhD and the current research journey I am on to help assess firefighters’ readiness to return to operational duties. I will give an overview of each study conducted throughout my PhD and provide a link to the full published papers, so you can read the about the study in more detail.

So why is this research important? In responding to emergencies, firefighters are exposed to physical and psychological stresses. Accordingly, firefighters are required to possess adequate levels of aerobic fitness, muscular strength, and endurance to cope with the physical demands of their job roles which include running, lifting ladders, carrying equipment and evacuating casualties. Due to these demands, the tasks of a firefighter are associated with an increased risk of work-related injury. Whilst national fitness standards have been created for firefighters in the UK, there is no national standard to date for the use of a return to work (RTW) assessment following an injury.

I conducted a systematic review, and the results highlighted a substantial shortfall in the understanding of how to assess the readiness of a firefighter to RTW following injury. Accordingly, further research was required to better understand which tasks could be included in such an assessment and how best to implement it within firefighting services.

In the first steps in developing a RTW assessment for firefighters following MSK injury, a Delphi study was conducted to evaluate a consensus on the tasks that should be included in such a RTW assessment. A consensus was gained for the operational firefighter tasks to be included in a RTW assessment. The results from this consensus created the framework for the Fit for Duty screening tool.

The tasks to be included in the Fit For Duty screening tool consisted of the following:

• Aerobic fitness test, with a Vo2 max level of 42.3ml/kg/min required.

• Putting on and removing a Breathing Apparatus (BA)

• Ladder lift simulation

• Ladder carry simulation

• Light portable pump carry simulation

• Hose run and carry

• Casualty evacuation

• Ladder climb with leg lock

Full details of each task requirements are detailed in the full published paper, click here to read more.

Following the Delphi study, the reliability of the Fit for Duty screening tool for firefighters was undertaken. The Fit for Duty screening tool demonstrated good inter-rater reliability (FK=0.77-0.79) and good-excellent intra-rater reliability (α=0.77-1.00), with 94.3% of participants. The reliability of the Fit for Duty screening tool allows conclusions of a firefighter’s physical readiness to RTW to be made, which can inform a RTW decision for a firefighter. The use of the Fit for Duty screening tool could improve consistency of RTW processes across the UK fire & rescue services.

The next step following this initial research project is to help support UK fire services with the implementation of the Fit For Duty screening tool. Another key priority is to help support firefighters, recovering from a MSK injury, with their strength and conditioning training help them Get Fit For Duty and return to operational duties safely.

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Dr Liam Noll