Firefighting is a strenuous occupation requiring high levels of physical fitness. Inadequate levels of fitness can put firefighters and risk of overexertion and injury. Therefore ensuring that firefighters maintain role specific fitness levels throughout their career is critical to both firefighter and public safety. The aim of this thesis was to investigate the minimum cardiorespiratory, strength and muscular endurance demands UK firefighting and to recommend minimum physical employment standards to ensure the operational effectiveness and safety of firefighting personnel working in the UK fire & rescue service. The first study developed a task analysis protocol to identify the minimum acceptable performance requirements of the critical and most physically demanding tasks in UK firefighting, identifying 2 distinct roles (firefighter and incident commander) with 8 critical tasks identified for firefighter and 2 for the incident commander role. The second study investigated the physical demands of performing these critical tasks to the minimum acceptable performance requirement. Cardiorespiratory fitness standards were derived for those undertaking both firefighting and incident command roles. Following this, the validity and reliability of a firefighter simulation test was assessed to determine its appropriateness as a criterion test of operational fitness. Whilst there was a strong inverse correlation between the test completion time and cardiorespiratory fitness and the simulation was highly reliable, the error associated with the simulation suggests that it may not be suitable to use as a standalone fitness test and should be used in conjunction with gym-based cardiorespiratory fitness assessments. The final study assessed the sensitivity and specificity of common and replicable gymbased physical ability tests to predict firefighting performance in order to recommend strength and muscular endurance standards. Each of the gym-based physical ability tests and associated standards were effective at predicting effective firefighting performance.

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My thesis examines the role and regulation of private, for-profit employment agencies in the British Columbia labour market with respect to the recruitment of temporary foreign workers. In it, I reviewed the historical origins of employment agency legislation in Canada. I go on to describe Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program in connection with the transfer of federal immigration authority to the provinces. I also present a case study demonstrating how temporary foreign workers are recruited for the Live-in Caregiver Program in British Columbia, and use the study as a basis for comparing British Columbia’s employment agency legislation with the agency licensing regimes in the other Western Provinces. I conclude that Manitoba’s recent Worker Recruitment and Protection Act frames a best practice model for the protection of foreign workers during the recruitment process, and I encourage other provinces like British Columbia to develop and legislatively frame a similar set of best practices. / Graduate

Why do temporary foreign workers employed in the British Columbia hospitality sector have difficulty enforcing their workplace rights? Using the themes of people, place and time, this thesis explores the demand and supply of migrant workers in the British Columbia hospitality sector, and the challenges temporary foreign workers face at the intersection of immigration law, employment law, occupational health and safety law, and workers’ compensation law. The thesis argues that the low-skilled Temporary Foreign Worker Program shifts the negative consequences of unfair working conditions and workplace health and safety risks over people, place and time: from Canadian workers and employers onto temporary foreign workers; from Canada to elsewhere; and from the present into the future. Workplace rights are not enough for hospitality sector workers, what is needed is better tools for the enforcement of those rights. / Graduate

Au Canada, le nombre de travailleurs étrangers temporaires est en forte hausse et ce, depuis 2003. Les travailleurs étrangers temporaires ne disposent ni de la citoyenneté politique, ni de la résidence permanente; leur mobilité professionnelle est restreinte et leur durée de séjour est limitée et prédéterminée. Sur le plan formel, ces travailleurs bénéficient des protections prévues par le droit du travail nonobstant leur statut migratoire. Toutefois, plusieurs travaux ont démontré que les travailleurs étrangers temporaires occupant des emplois qui requièrent un niveau réduit de formation sont généralement moins enclins à dénoncer la violation de leurs droits au travail. Le droit du travail constitue-t-il un rempart utile pour ces travailleurs? À l’aide d’une méthodologie mixte impliquant notamment une enquête de terrain auprès des acteurs-clé, la présente thèse poursuit deux objectifs distincts. Sur le plan empirique, elle permet de mettre en lumière l’incidence du système d’emploi singulier dans lequel s’insèrent les travailleurs étrangers temporaires sur leur usage des ressources proposées par le droit du travail. Le recours à ces ressources n’est pas contingent et prédéterminé; il est inextricablement lié aux opportunités et aux contraintes avec lesquelles ces travailleurs composent. Cette recherche révèle également que les stratégies échafaudées par différents acteurs qui ne sont pas, sur le plan juridique, des parties au rapport salarial, ont une incidence significative sur l’usage du droit par ses destinataires ; leur impact dépend largement du pouvoir dont ces acteurs disposent dans le système d’emploi. Sur le plan théorique, cette thèse s’inscrit dans le champ plus large des études portant sur l’effectivité du droit; elle propose de distinguer entre l’étude des effets du droit et l’analyse de son usage. Elle présente, à cette fin, un cadre analytique permettant de saisir le rapport qu’entretiennent les destinataires avec le droit. / In Canada, the number of temporary foreign workers has been steadily increasing since 2003. Temporary foreign workers have neither political citizenship nor permanent residency; their professional mobility is restricted and their length of stay limited and predetermined. Formally, these workers can benefit from the protection of labour law despite their migratory status. Many studies have however shown that “low-skilled” temporary foreign workers are generally less likely to report the violation of their labour rights. Does labour law constitute a useful buttress for these workers? Using a mixed methodology involving a field study with key actors, this study pursues two objectives. On the empirical level, it allows to shed light on the impact of the singular employment system of these workers on their mobilization of labour law’s protections. Such mobilization is neither contingent nor predetermined; it depends on the constraints and on the opportunities arising from the employment system. Our research also reveals that strategies elaborated by actors who are not, from a legal perspective, parties to the employment relationship, also have a significant impact on the way these workers take advantage of labour law's ressources ; such impact largely depends on the power these actors have in the employment system. On the theoretical level, this study is situated in the broader field of studies concerning the effectiveness of law. It purports to distinguish between the study of the effects of the law and the analysis of its use. It elaborates an analytical framework addressing the relationship between the law and its recipients.