Lifestyle behaviours and perceived well-being in different fire service roles.

BACKGROUND: Aspects of the work environment influence employee well-being. However, it is unclear how employee lifestyle behaviours, health characteristics and well-being may differ within a broader occupational sector. AIMS: To investigate the health characteristics, lifestyle behaviours and well-being of three Fire and Rescue Service (FRS) occupational groups that differ in shift work and occupational demands: operational firefighters (FF), emergency control (EC) and administrative support (AS) workers. METHODS: Data were obtained via an online survey using previously validated questionnaires to assess health characteristics, lifestyle behaviours and perceived well-being. Differences between groups were explored, controlling for confounding variables, using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) methods. Effect sizes are reported where appropriate to demonstrate clinical significance. RESULTS: Four thousand five hundred and sixty-four FRS personnel volunteered, with 3333 (73%) completing the survey out of a total workforce of 60000 (8%). FF reported the lowest prevalence of chronic medical conditions (10%), compared with AS (21%) and EC (19%) workers. Total physical activity (PA) was 66% higher among FF compared with EC and AS workers. Components of sleep and self-rated health were independent predictors of well-being irrespective of FRS role. CONCLUSIONS: FF reported the highest levels of PA and highest perceptions of well-being, and the lowest prevalence of obesity and chronic medical conditions, compared with other FRS occupational groups. These findings may be used to inform FRS workplace intervention strategies.

Development of role-related minimum cardiorespiratory fitness standards for firefighters and commanders.

A minimum cardiorespiratory fitness standard was derived for firefighters following a metabolic demands analysis. Design and minimal acceptable performance of generic firefighting task simulations (i.e. hose running, casualty evacuation, stair climb, equipment carry, wild-land fire) were endorsed by a panel of operationally experienced experts. Sixty-two UK firefighters completed these tasks wearing a standard protective firefighting ensemble while being monitored for peak steady-state metabolic demand and cardiovascular strain. Four tasks, endorsed as valid operational simulations by ≥90% of participants (excluding wild-land fire; 84%), were deemed to be a sufficiently valid and reliable basis for a fitness standard. These tasks elicited an average peak steady-state metabolic cost of 38.1 ± 7.8 ml kg-1 min-1. It is estimated that healthy adults can sustain the total duration of these tasks (~16 min) at ≤90% maximum oxygen uptake and a cardiorespiratory fitness standard of ≥42.3 ml kg-1 min-1 would be required to sustain work. Practitioner Summary: A cardiorespiratory fitness standard for firefighters of ≥42.3 ml kg-1 min-1 was derived from monitoring minimum acceptable performance of essential tasks. This study supports the implementation of a routine assessment of this fitness standard for all UK operational firefighters, to ensure safe physical preparedness for occupational performance.

Influence of smoking status on acute biomarker responses to successive days of arduous military training.

INTRODUCTION: Habitual smoking is highly prevalent in military populations despite its association with poorer training outcomes. Smoking imposes challenges on the immune and endocrine systems which could alter how smokers acutely respond to, and recover from, intensive exercise particularly over multiple days of training. METHODS: Over a two-day period, 35 male British Army recruits (age 22±3 years; mass 76.9±8.0 kg; height 1.78±0.06 m; 15 smokers) completed a 16.1 km loaded march (19.1 kg additional mass) on the first morning and a best-effort 3.2 km 'log race' (carrying a 60 kg log between six and eight people) on the subsequent morning. Blood samples were obtained on waking and immediately postexercise on both days and analysed for C reactive protein (CRP), interleukin 6 (IL-6), testosterone to cortisol ratio and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1). RESULTS: Independent of smoking group, the exercise bouts on both days evoked significant increases in IL-6 (p<0.001) and decreases in testosterone to cortisol ratio (p<0.05). CRP concentrations on day 2 were significantly higher than both time points on day 1 (p<0.001), and a 9% decline in IGF-1 occurred over the two-day period, but was not significant (p=0.063). No significant differences were observed between smokers and non-smokers (p>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Military-specific tasks elicited inflammatory and endocrine responses, with systemic CRP and IGF-1 indicating that the physiological stress generated during the first training day was still evident on the second day. Despite the well-established impacts of smoking on resting levels of the markers examined, responses to two days of arduous military-specific training did not differ by smoking status.