Characterising the physical demands of critical tasks across the Royal Australian Air Force
Issue title: Special Section: Physical Employment Standards
Guest editors: Robin M. Orr, Gemma S. Milligan, Sam D. Blacker, Jace Drain, Tara Reilly, Etienne Chassé, Andrew Siddall, Stephen Foulis, Helen Kilding and Veronica Jamnik
Affiliations: [a] Human and Decision Sciences Division, Defence Science and Technology Group, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| [b]
Centre for Medical and Exercise Physiology, School of Medical, Indigenous and Health Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, Australia
Correspondence:
[*]
Correspondence to: Greg L. Carstairs, Human and Decision Sciences Division, Defence Science and Technology Group, Melbourne, VIC, Australia. E-mail: [email protected]; ORCID 0009-0009-5952-5980
Note: [1] ORCID 0000-0001-6184-5814.
Note: [2] ORCID 0000-0003-4881-150X.
Note: [3] ORCID 0000-0002-7945-0041.
Abstract: BACKGROUND:Militaries have historically utilised generic physical fitness tests to assess physical readiness, but there has been a recent shift to develop physical employment standards (PES) based on actual job demands. OBJECTIVE:The purpose of this investigation was to characterise the physical demands of critical tasks performed by Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) personnel to inform PES development. METHODS:Job task analysis were performed for 27 RAAF trades. Criterion tasks were identified through a systematic approach involving workshops and field-observations. The identified tasks were assessed for dominant physical capacity and grouped into movement-based clusters. Psychophysiological measures were collected from personnel performing the tasks. RESULTS:Of 87 criterion tasks, 92% were characterised as manual handling dominant. Across these 87 tasks the principal physical capacities were: muscular strength (59%), muscular endurance (52%) and cardiorespiratory endurance (39%). The most common movement clusters were Lift to Platform (44%) and Lift and Carry (38%). Lift to Platform tasks required lifting to a median height of 1.32 m (1.20 –1.65 m) and a median mass of 25.0 kg (21.0 –28.9 kg) per person. Median carry mass was 25.0 kg (22.4 –36.1 kg) per person and distance was 26.0 m (17.5 –50.0 m). Median task mean ’Vdot;O2, HR and RPE were 1.8 L.min- 1 (1.5–2.2 L.min- 1), 137 b.min- 1 (120–144) and 13 (12–14). CONCLUSIONS:The high proportion of manual handling criterion tasks emphasises the importance of these activities and the underlying physical capacities for RAAF personnel. Current fitness assessments are unlikely to predict job task performance.
