Cross-Sectional Associations Between Overall and Task-Specific Physical Work Demands and Sustainable Employability...

Firefighting is widely recognized as a physically demanding profession, in which working until the statutory retirement age is considered highly challenging. However, increasing societal pressure to extend working lives highlights the need to gain more insight into how sustainable employability (SE) can be supported in such occupations. This study aims to examine cross-sectional associations between overall and task-specific physical work demands and SE among Dutch career firefighters.

Data from the SEmFire Cohort Study questionnaire for Dutch career firefighters (n = 1371) were used. SE was assessed using nine indicators across three domains: health (health status, work ability, need for recovery, prolonged fatigue), well-being (job satisfaction, motivation to work), and employability (employability, skill gap, job performance). Physical work demands-overall and task-specific-were used as independent variables. Multiple logistic regression models were applied, adjusting for personal, occupational, and health-related factors.

Dutch career firefighters reported high physical work demands and unfavorable outcomes across multiple SE indicators. Both overall and task-specific physical demands were cross-sectionally associated with adverse SE outcomes across all three domains. Statistically significant associations were observed in all three distinguished function groups-operational, hybrid, and non-operational-though patterns (i.e., which indicators and the strength of associations) varied between groups. The frequency of incident responses per month also influenced the strengths of these associations.

This study shows that physical work demands are associated with multiple indicators of SE among Dutch career firefighters. These findings provide an important first step toward identifying actionable areas to enhance SE among firefighters.