The use of two different methods of workload quantification in firefighters

Aim of the study. To measure firefighters' workload on real condition during a 10-hour guard with the use of two different methods: a method based on heart rate and a method based on the perceptive workload. Synthesis. Fourteen male professional firefighters performed a 10-hour guard with a heart rate monitor and their perceived exertion of the exercise intensity was recorded. The results showed significant differences for the total 10-hour guard workload between the two methods for daily tasks (P < 0.01) and for rescue interventions (P < 0.01) with greater values for the perceptive workload. For the workload compared within the same method, there were significant differences between the four tasks with the perceptive workload (P < 0.01) and with the heart rate method (P < 0.0001). However, no difference was found for the rescue interventions. Conclusion. The findings of this study suggest that the perceptive workload method is important to assess the workload of an activity like the firefighters work. (C) 2015 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.