CIFFC is extending an invitation to interested parties to provide proposals for an objective third-party review of the Canadian Physical Performance Exchange Standard for Fitness for Type 1 wildland firefighter crews, and the associated WFXFIT circuit.
The Canadian Physical Performance Exchange Standards for Fitness for Type 1 Wildland Firefighters was developed over two years from 2009-2011. Implemented on April 1, 2012, the physical performance standard and associated WFXFIT circuit assessment protocol have now been in place for 10 years. As such a comprehensive review has been undertaken by the Canadian forest fire management agencies through the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC).
The intent of the physical performance evaluation is to determine whether the participant possesses the necessary physical attributes to safely and efficiently perform the important, physically demanding, and frequently occurring on-the-job tasks encountered in a public safety occupation. In this context, a public safety task is defined as “a task in which the safety of the wildland firefighter, a co-worker or the public may be compromised by failure to complete or inefficient performance of the required task”.
The original development of the Exchange Standard and associated assessment protocol was predicated on the expectation that the protocol must be a Bona Fide Occupational Requirement (BFOR). That is, legally defensible relative to a Human Rights perspective and to conform to both the Supreme Court of Canada’s Meiorin Decision and the body of case law on BFORs that has accumulated since the Meiorin decision was rendered. Going forward this basic requirement remains a keystone of the review.
The goal for this objective third-party review is to investigate the Exchange Standard and the WFXFIT evaluation protocol, its development, and current implementation to evaluate conformity with current science and practices regarding BFOR fitness standards in public safety services. The review shall include a comparative analysis with other emergency management disciplines in Canada and their approach to BFOR workplace fitness standards. The participants shall critically review all the components of the evaluation protocol and its development to determine whether the current protocol is appropriate in its current form, if it requires some changes, or if it there are alternative approaches to be investigated.
