Esteban Oñate and Elías Apud*
Department of Ergonomics, University of Concepción, Barrio Universitario s/n, Concepción, Chile
*Corresponding Author: Elías Apud, Department of Ergonomics, University of Concepción, Barrio Univer-sitario s/n, Concepción, Chile.
Received: November 26, 2020; Published: January 16, 2021
Emergencies can occur at any time and may reach unpredictable magnitudes. Unfortunately, in many companies, emergency
brigades are often organized with people who perform work of sedentary nature and they are not prepared to face sporadic tasks of
high physical demands.
The objective of this study was to compare the physical fitness of workers with different degree of training. They worked for the
same company, but in different industrial plants. In one of them they had a physical training program, guided 3 times per week during
working hours by a physical educator; In the other plant there was no facilities for training.
Age, stature, body mass, body fat and aerobic capacity were evaluated with conventional methods in 57 physically trained and 21
untrained workers.
Results showed that aerobic capacity was 20.8% higher in the trained brigade. Body fat content was significantly higher in the untrained
brigade. A further analysis showed that according to Chilean standards for emergency brigades, 58% of the untrained brigade
members do not reach the recommended level, while only 19% of the trained workers are below the reference level.
As conclusion, the results only confirmed the importance of physical training to improve working capacity and this is particularly
important for workers who perform light activities and in isolated occasions have to face high and dangerous demands. Therefore,
the main recommendation is to stimulate training within working hours as part of the preparation of the brigade members.
Keywords: Brigades; Physical Training; Work Capacity; Body Composition; Overweight; Obesity
Citation: Esteban Oñate and Elías Apud. “Physical Fitness Comparison of Trained and Untrained Industrial Emergency Brigades".Acta Scientific Nutritional Health 5.2 (2021): 06-10.
Copyright: © 2021 Esteban Oñate and Elías Apud. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.