Analysis of employment standards of firefighters: types of tests and role of sex

Abstract

The aim of this study was to analyze the type of physical selection tests used in different national calls for access to structural firefighters service and to describe the sex differences applied in the cut-score of the applicants. For this, 49 national calls between the years 2011-2020 were studied. The physical tests of the calls were classified according to their nature: generic (physical fitness assessment) or specific (work requirements assessment). In addition, the difference between the cut-score required of women and man in each of the tests was calculated. 85.7% of the calls made some type of differentiation by sex in the pass, 8.2% did not make a differentiation and 6.1% did not apply any differentiation in the pass but in the scale. In all calls there was some generic selection test, and in 57.1% only generic tests were performed. The mean difference between the marks required for men and women was 17.6 ± 7.9%. The mean value of the differences by sex in the specific tests was 18.3 ± 8.4%. In conclusion, the most used tests in the firefighters’ selection processes were the generic ones. There was a great heterogeneity both in the tests used and in the scales applied. Although in most of the calls some type of differentiation by sex was established, there does not seem to be a homogeneity of criteria for its establishment.