Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Nov 27;10(12):2381.
doi: 10.3390/healthcare10122381.

Inter-Rater and Intra-Rater Reliability of Return-to-Work Screening Tests for UK Firefighters Following Injury

Liam Noll  1 , Jason Moran  1 , Adrian Mallows  1
Affiliations

Inter-Rater and Intra-Rater Reliability of Return-to-Work Screening Tests for UK Firefighters Following Injury

Liam Noll et al. Healthcare (Basel). .

Abstract

The aim of this study was to assess the inter-rater and intra-rater reliability of a return-to-work (RTW) screening test to be used on UK firefighters following injury. The inter rater and intra-rater reliability of eight tasks involved in a screening test was used to assess readiness to RTW for UK firefighters following injury. These tasks included the following: (1) putting on and removing a breathing apparatus set (BA), (2) a ladder lift simulation, (3) a ladder carry simulation, (4) a light portable pump (LPP) lift and carry simulation, (5) a hose run, (6) a ladder climb with leg lock, (7) a casualty evacuation and (8) a confined space crawl simulation. The inter-rater reliability between each individual screening task was interpreted as Excellent (ICC = 0.94-1.00) for eleven (68.75%) of the screening task videos and as Good (ICC = 0.75-0.88) for five (31.25%) of the screening task videos. Intra-rater reliability was interpreted as Excellent (ICC = 1) for twenty-six participants (74.3%), Good (ICC = 0.76-0.88) for eight participants (22.9%) and Moderate for one participant (2.8%). Due to the reliability of this screening test, it allows conclusions to be made from the results which can inform a RTW decision for a firefighter.

Keywords: firefighter; functional capacity; physical assessment; return to work; tactical athlete.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Bar Chart showing the job role of the participants.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Bar chart showing the region representation in the United Kingdom of the participants.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Noll L., Mallows A., Moran J. Consensus on tasks to be included in a return to work assessment for a UK firefighter following an injury: An online Delphi study. Int. Arch. Occup. Environ. Health. 2021;94:1085–1095. doi: 10.1007/s00420-021-01661-7. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Yedulla N.R., Battista E.B., Koolmees D.S., Montgomery Z.A., Day C.S. Workplace-related musculoskeletal injury trends in the United States from 1992 to 2018. Injury. 2022;53:1920–1926. doi: 10.1016/j.injury.2022.03.007. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Mock C.N., Kobusingye O., Nugent R., Smith K.R., Mock C.N., Kobusingye O., Nugent R., Smith K. Injury Prevention and Environmental Health: Key Messages from Disease Control Priorities. World Bank; Washington, DC, USA: 2018.
    1. Wise S.R., Trigg S.D. Optimizing health, wellness, and performance of the tactical athlete. Curr. Sports Med. Rep. 2020;19:70–75. doi: 10.1249/JSR.0000000000000684. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Orr R., Simas V., Canetti E., Schram B. A profile of injuries sustained by firefighters: A critical review. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health. 2019;16:3931. doi: 10.3390/ijerph16203931. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources