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Occupational Medicine Advance Access originally published online on November 2, 2005
Occupational Medicine 2006 56(1):12-17; doi:10.1093/occmed/kqi168
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© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Occupational Medicine. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Occupational fitness standards for beach lifeguards. Phase 2: the development of an easily administered fitness test

T. Reilly1, C. Iggleden1, M. Gennser2 and M. Tipton1

1 Department of Sport and Exercise Science, Institute of Biomedical and Biomolecular Sciences, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth PO1 2DT, UK
2 FOI, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden

Background No task-based fitness standard currently exists for beach lifeguards (BLGs).

Aim To formulate an easily administered fitness test for BLGs based on the physical demands identified in Phase 1 of the project (previous paper).

Methods A range of anthropometric and land- and water-based (swimming pool and flume) fitness assessments were administered to 25 male and female volunteer subjects (13 BLGs from the UK).

Results The mean (SD) VO2max (l/min) were 3.04 (0.61) for towing a casualty, 2.08 (0.53) for board paddling with a casualty and 2.97 (0.67) for freestyle swimming. A significant correlation (r = –0.82, P < 0.001) was identified between distance paddled in the sea in 3.5 min (established in Phase 1) and pool 400-m front crawl swim time and between towing VO2max and deltoid circumference/log10 400-m front crawl swim time (r = –0.83, P < 0.001).

Conclusions The regression identified allows the conclusion that if a BLG can swim 400-m front crawl in a pool in <7.5 min, he/she should be able to paddle 310 m in the sea in <3.5 min. Final recommendations for a fitness test for potential BLGs are presented.

Keywords      Fitness standards; lifeguarding; occupational fitness; rescue

Correspondence to: T. Reilly, Department of Sport and Exercise Science, Institute of Biomedical and Biomolecular Sciences, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth PO1 2DT, UK. Tel: +44 23 9284 2435; fax: +44 23 9284 2641; e-mail: tara.reilly{at}port.ac.uk


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