Development of a physical employment standard for a branch of the UK military

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    Abstract

    Purpose: To develop a Physical Employment Standard (PES) for the British Royal Air Force Regiment (RAF Regt).

    Method: Twenty-nine RAF Regt personnel completed eight critical tasks wearing Combat Equipment Fighting Order (31.5 kg) while being monitored for physical and perceptual effort. A PES was developed using task simulations, measured on 61 incumbents.

    Results: The resultant PES consists of: 1) a battlefield test involving task simulations: single lift and point-of-entry (psss/fail); timed elements (react to effective enemy fire and crawl) set at 95th performance percentile; casualty evacuation (CASEVAC) casualty drag and CASEVAC simulated stretcher carry completed without stopping. 2) a Multi Stage Fitness Test level 9.10 to assess aerobic fitness to complete a tactical advance to battle.

    Conclusion: The task-based PES should ensure RAF Regt personnel have a baseline level of fitness to perform and withstand the physical demands of critical tasks to at least a minimum acceptable standard.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)1572-1584
    JournalErgonomics
    Volume62
    Issue number12
    Early online date5 Sept 2019
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1 Dec 2019

    Keywords

    • critical tasks
    • physiological demands
    • direct task simulations
    • minimum standard
    • method of best practice

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