The relationship between size, strength and task demands

Abstract

To study the relationship between size, strength and task demands, an intensive task-analysis approach was adopted for three physically demanding military occupations (trades). The methodology used was: (i) survey trade experts (incumbents) to obtain information on the physically demanding aspects (tasks) of the trade; (ii) quantify representative trade tasks; (iii) relate operator (male and female) performance on these representative trade tasks with performance on a selected battery of physical tests from the literature; (iv) determine valid job selection standards from predictive tests. The results of the study demonstrated that static strength and anthropometric measurements were successful in predicting work performance in the trade tasks.