A job-related fitness test for the Dutch police

Background The variety of tasks that characterize police work highlights the importance of being in good physical condition. Aims To take a first step at standardizing the administration of a job-related test to assess a person's ability to perform the physical demands of the core tasks of poli...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Occupational medicine (Oxford) 2010-06, Vol.60 (4), p.255-260
Main Authors: Strating, M., Bakker, R. H., Dijkstra, G. J., Lemmink, K. A. P. M., Groothoff, J. W.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Age Factors
Biological and medical sciences
Body Mass Index
Dutch police
Exercise - physiology
Exercise Test - methods
Exercise Test - statistics & numerical data
Exercise Tolerance - physiology
Female
Humans
job-related fitness test
Male
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
Miscellaneous
Netherlands
Occupational Health
Occupational medicine
physical competence
Physical Fitness - physiology
Pilot Projects
Police
Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine
Sex Factors
Time Factors
Work Capacity Evaluation
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Summary:Background The variety of tasks that characterize police work highlights the importance of being in good physical condition. Aims To take a first step at standardizing the administration of a job-related test to assess a person's ability to perform the physical demands of the core tasks of police work. The principal research questions were: are test scores related to gender, age and function and are test scores related to body mass index (BMI) and the number of hours of physical exercise? Methods Data of 6999 police officers, geographically spread over all parts of The Netherlands, who completed a physical competence test over a 1 year period were analysed. Results Women performed the test significantly more slowly than men. The mean test score was also related to age; the older a person the longer it took to complete the test. A higher BMI was associated with less hours of body exercise a week and a slower test performance, both in women and men. Conclusions The differences in individual test scores, based on gender and age, have implications for future strategy within the police force. From a viewpoint of ‘same job, same standard’ one has to accept that test-score differences may lead to the exclusion of certain staff. However, from a viewpoint of ‘diversity as a business issue’, one may have to accept that on average, both female and older police officers are physically less tailored to their jobs than their male and younger colleagues.
ISSN:0962-7480
1471-8405
DOI:10.1093/occmed/kqq060