ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Good physical health and capacity is a requirement for offshore wind service technicians (WTs) who have substantial physical work demands and are exposed to numerous health hazards. Workplace physical exercise has shown promise for improving physical health and work ability among various occupational groups. Therefore, we aimed to assess the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of Intelligent Physical Exercise Training (IPET) among WTs in the offshore wind industry. METHODS: A within-subject design was used to assess the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of IPET (one hour/week individualized exercise during working hours). The intervention period was 12 weeks, with the first eight weeks performed on site as supervised or partly supervised exercise during work hours and the last four weeks planned as home-administered exercise after the seasonal offshore service period. Three assessments, T1 (six months prior to intervention start), T2 (start of intervention) and T3 (end of intervention), of physical health and capacity (self-reported and objective measurements) were conducted and the period between T1 and T2 served as a within-subject control period. Primary outcome was feasibility measured as compliance, adherence, adverse events, and participant acceptability. Descriptive statistics were used to present feasibility outcomes. Preliminary efficacy was reported as mean differences with 95% confidence intervals for health and physical capacity outcomes between T1 and T2, between T2 and T3 and between T1 and T3. RESULTS: All WTs at the included wind farm (n=24, age: 40 years (SD±8)) participated in the study. No serious adverse events were reported. Compliance and adherence of 95 and 80% respectively, were reached in the eight-week supervised part, but were lower when exercise was home-administered (<20%). Acceptability was high for the supervised part, with 83% indicating that the exercise program worked well and 100% that exercise should be implemented as an integrated part of the working structure. Changes in physical capacity and health indicators, such as VO2max (ml O2/kg/min) at T1 (38.6 (SD±7.2)), T2 (44.1 (SD±9)) and T3 (45.8 (SD±6.5)), may indicate seasonal fluctuations as well as improvements from the intervention. CONCLUSION: On-site Intelligent Physical Exercise Training during working hours was feasible and well received among WTs in the offshore wind industry. The proceeding of larger-scale evaluation and implementation is therefore recommended. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov (Identifier: NCT04995718 ). Retrospectively registered on August 6, 2021.
ABSTRACT
We aimed to assess the physical capacity and physical work demands of wind service technicians (WT) in different field conditions (onshore and offshore workdays). We recruited 27 male WTs (mean age of 31 years (SD: ±7), VO2max of 46 mL O2/kg/min (SD: ±7)) and assessed their physical work demands for a total of 110 workdays using heart rate monitors and accelerometers at five body placements. On average, each day, sitting was the most recorded activity (43%), followed by standing (19%), lying (13%) moving (9%), walking (8%) and high intensity physical activities (1%). Additionally, 1 minute was spent on vertical climbing, 20 minutes on work with forward bent trunk, 13 minutes on work with elevated arms and 6 minutes kneeling. The average cardiovascular load was 22% and 4 minutes per day were spent at high cardiovascular intensities. We found significantly higher demands on offshore compared with onshore workdays.
