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.

Objectives: Extending working lives is a major strategy in policy responses to ageing populations. This is currently being implemented by means of the increasing UK state pension age. However, the health effects of such changes are highly debatable. A systematic review conducted by this thesis revealed that previous research on the topic has provided a diverse set of findings. One of the reasons for the lack of agreement between previous studies is the high degree of heterogeneity in the study samples of older adults. This is statistically revealed by a meta-analysis conducted in this study. The research presented within this thesis examines whether extending working lives is beneficial for health, and focuses on the importance of accounting for quality of work when considering these effects. Methods: The study used respondents from waves 1 to 5 of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing who worked until state pension age and then entered either later-life employment or retirement. Linear spline regressions examined trajectories of depression, self-rated health and cognitive function across the retirement age period, stratified by work quality and retirement. Propensity score matching was subsequently used to estimate unbiased treatment effects of extended working as opposed to retirement, and then of poor and good quality work individually in relation to retirement. Results: The spline models indicated entering retirement from work was associated with a significant change in patterns of depression and self-rated health, but continuation of work was not. Retiree trajectories consistently showed poorer outcomes than those of respondents who were working. The results of the propensity score matching found no significant differences in health on the basis of belonging to the group of overall workers compared to retirees. However when work was stratified on the basis of its quality, significant differences became apparent. Belonging to the group of poor quality workers was associated with significantly worse depression than belonging to both the good quality workers and retirees, and belonging to the group of good quality worker was associated with significantly better self-rated health than belonging to the group of retirees. Discussion: The heterogeneous socio-demographic and health characteristics of the older working population should be taken into account when examining impacts of employment on health. Failure to account for differences in quality of work may lead to the incorrect assumption that extended employment is beneficial to the health of all workers. If older people are going to be encouraged to work for longer periods of time, beneficial effects need to apply to all working groups. Employers need to ensure adjustments to individual working patterns and environments are made in order to suit the needs of an ageing workforce.

Research shows that an increasing number of people in society is taking sick leave for psychological reasons connected to working life. The focus in this study lies on how the organizational culture influences some of the employees’ health and wellbeing. To find answers to these problems my research questions are how some of the employees experience the prevalent organizational culture and how this perceived culture influences these employees’ health and wellbeing. Four qualitative interviews were conducted in a medium size organization based in Sweden. Focus lied here on perceived norms regarding the organization, social life, work and health. Answers where analysed with the theoretical perspectives of organisational pedagogic, organizational culture, sociocultural theory and psychological contracts. Results show that organizational culture is perceived as mainly consistent for all informants. Findings give that satisfaction is high in many areas regarding health which is consistent with chosen theories and presented research based on their needs being met. The results indicate a smaller difference between managerand floor workers mainly in perceived stress and control and there is also signs of a difference between formal and informal culture regarding which behaviours are perceived as acceptable by the different working groups.

This study develops a methodology to analyze the interregional impact of Federal grants to provincial governments. The approach is an application of Input-Output analysis. The methodology is empirically implemented to illustrate the extent that employment income generated by Federal grants to a province spills over into other regions. These spillovers are recorded at an individual industry level and at the regional level. Four grant programs are investigated. These are equalization payments, and three conditional grants: health, social welfare, and education. An interregional Input-Output model is developed for sixteen industries in five regions: the Atlantic provinces, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, and the United States. For each region, the government sector is specified by five final demand vectors which correspond to the three expenditure categories of the conditional grant programs, transportationcommunication, and a general category which includes all other provincial government expenditures. This empirical model is based on three sources: the interregional Input-Output table of Canada developed by the Agricultural Economic Research Council, five provincial government expenditure functions estimated for each Canadian region in the model, and the regional government final demand vectors. The results indicate that the gross employment income generated by federal grants is partially contained within the region receiving the ,grant. Ten dollar per capita increases in equalization payments to individual regions generate additional employment income in other regions which varies from $0.63 to $0.03 per capita. In all cases, these per capita spillovers are less than.the per capita employment income generated in the recipient region.For all equalization payments, Ontario received the greatest per~capita spillin followed by Quebec. The smallest per capita spillin accrues to either the Atlantic provinces or the United States. In general, this pattern of spillovers reflects the pattern of employment income.generated in each industry of these regions as equalization payments are increased. However, exceptions are observed. For example, the spillover to the Quebec leather and textile industry which is generated by the equalization payment to Manitoba is larger than the local employment income effect in this industry. A similar pattern of regional per capita spillovers is observed for conditional grants. In general, the largest per capita spillovers are generated by conditional health grants. Overall, the methodology and results indicate how federal grant programs can accommodate interregional spillovers and their consequences for the regional and interindustry distribution of employment income. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

No description available.

This thesis provides the reader with a comparative study of the termination of employment as a result of the state of health of the employee. The compared legal systems are the legal system of the Czech Republic, Austria and Italy. For better understanding of the topic of the thesis, the Austrian and Italian system of sources of law related to the topic and the categories of employees distinguished under Austrian and Italian law are briefly described. Statistical data concerning the topic of the thesis (e.g. the number of work accidents in the three countries per year) are provided as well. Based on the extent of the thesis, the historical development of legal regulation is not analysed. The structure of the chapter is based on the legal institutes, which are always described in relation to all of the three states in one chapter. The thesis is based on the method of comparative analysis. Especially in relation to the Italian legal system, notes concerning the translation of the texts of laws are involved, because the legal institutes do not always correspond with the labour law of the Czech Republic. The sources used for the creation of this thesis were published in German, Italian, English and Czech. The sources of labour law of Austria and Italy are briefly described and analysed. The first...

Diploma work work is sight on problems unemployment in region Litomerice. V those work I levelling in singles microregiones and their rate of unemployment. In all microregiones district Litomerice weigh upon follow-up retrieval berth appearance to current working offers and traffic availability. Further I strove clear up causes unemployment and her possible aftermath for individuals, but also his surroundings. At classification record I start from questionnaire filled-out client employment bureau in Litomerice. This group client was very heterogeneous its age constitution, achieved education, its social conditions and previous experience in accounting on employment bureau.