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The Demands of Vertical Ladder Ergometer Climbing Relating to the Wind Energy Industry

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The Demands of Vertical Ladder Ergometer Climbing Relating to the Wind Energy Industry BARRON, P.J. 2019. The demands of vertical ladder ergometer climbing relating to the wind energy industry. Robert Gordon University [online], PhD thesis. Available from: https://openair.rgu.ac.uk The demands of vertical ladder ergometer climbing relating to the wind energy industry. BARRON, P.J. 2019 The author of this thesis retains the right to be identified as such on any occasion in which content from this thesis is referenced or re-used. The licence under which this thesis is distributed applies to the text and any original images only – re-use of any third-party content must still be cleared with the original copyright holder. This document was downloaded from https://openair.rgu.ac.uk The demands of vertical ladder ergometer climbing relating to the wind energy industry Peter James Barron A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement of the Robert Gordon University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy August 2019 Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisory team of Dr. Arthur Stewart, Dr. Katherine Burgess and Prof. Kay Cooper for their continual support throughout this journey. Firstly, Dr. Stewart for securing this project and his continued support whether it be helping develop my writing, discussing ideas or aiding in pilot testing. Secondly, thanks to Dr. Burgess who has been a big support to me since my time as an undergraduate student. Your support in helping me blend ideas of mixing science and practice together to create something tangible has been appreciated. You have been a fantastic person to lean on for support throughout this journey. Finally, Prof. Cooper thank you for your support in helping with developing my writing and ensuring that everything was done was based on the literature. I have been very fortunate to have an experienced, positive and helpful supervisory team who have made this journey a positive and a developmental process. For all your statistical advice, thank you to Dr. Paul Swinton. I cannot thank Simon Hall from the school of health sciences enough for his continual support with the equipment required throughout this thesis. His help during pilot testing was invaluable and he was always helpful during our many discussions over coffee. Thank you to my friends and family for their support during this journey whether it be assisting in the research or being available to help balance life with sport. Thank you to Angus Cameron for your assistance in the lab whether it be pilot testing or helping with participants. Thanks to my fellow research students for creating a positive and safe working environment. I appreciated sitting down almost every day to have lunch or to discuss ideas and support each other. Thank you to Andrea Macmillan for the continual help and support with all things academic and occasionally non- academic. Your helpful and direct style was always appreciated, and you never failed to make a day better. Lastly, thank you to Robyn Barron for your continual support during this work. It was always appreciated the way you helped to make sure I could work optimally so I could focus on this work. Finally, thank you to all the participants who took part in the studies as without you this work would not have been possible. i Abstract Peter James Barron This thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. The physiological and psychophysical demands of vertical ladder ergometer climbing relating to the wind energy industry. The current medical fitness standard guidelines for Renewable UK for wind turbine technicians were adopted from the UK Fire and Rescue service. However, the two industries on the face of it have different demands. This thesis aimed to ascertain the day to day nature of the role of a wind turbine technician. Specifically, it aimed to understand the effect of external loads on vertical ladder ergometer climbing, the effect of a climb assist device and the effect space restriction on ladder climbing. A further aim was to understand the difference between climbing a pitched and vertical ladder ergometer. Using an online survey, it was found that 50% of respondents climbed wind turbines four to six days per week. The median turbine height climbed was 36 m whilst carrying external loads up to 15 kg. Finally, only 25% of wind turbines they climbed contained climb assist devices. This thesis ascertained that vertical ladder ergometer climbing was significantly (p < 0.05) more demanding than pitched ladder climbing with large effect on V̇O2 (d = 1.7 – 3.3) and heart rate (HR)(d = 1.5 – 1.9). The change in pitch lead to the mean V̇O2 across all speeds increasing from 39.1 ml.kg.min-1 to 45.5 ml.kg.min-1 and mean HR increasing from 148 bpm to 170 bpm. -1 The use of a climb assist device significantly (p < 0.05) decreased mean V̇O2 from 28.3 ml.kg.min to 22.0 ml.kg.min-1, mean HR from 134 bpm to 114 bpm and the rate of perceived exertion (RPE) reduced from a median of 3 to a median value of 1. Furthermore, descending a vertical ladder has a significantly lower energetic cost than that of ascending with a significant (p < 0.05) decrease in V̇O2 from 28.3 ml.kg.min-1 to 15.3 ml.kg.min-1, mean HR from 134 bpm to 111 and the rate of perceived exertion (RPE) reduced from a median of 2.5 to a median value of 1. Climbing vertically with 5 kg -1 significantly increased V̇O2 (36.4 v. 38.1 ml.kg.min ) and HR (162 v. 167 bpm) compared to a no-load condition and climbing vertically with 10 kg also significantly increased V̇O2 and HR compared to no load (36.4 v. 40.1 ml.kg.min-1; 162 v. 170 bpm) and 5 kg condition (38.1 v. 40.1 ml.kg.min-1; 162 v. 170 bpm). There was no significant (p > 0.05) change in the horizontal space required for climbing when a space constraint (0.88 m, 1.03 m or 1.23) was applied to participants compared to an unrestricted condition. ii This thesis found that depending on the speed and/or the presence of an external load that the intensity of vertical ladder ergometer climbing exceeds that of the medical fitness guidelines. In doing so this thesis proposes future work should re-examine the medical fitness standard and highlights that more research in order to create an evidence base from which to design a bespoke industry fitness standard. Keywords: Ladder climbing; Vertical Ladder climbing; Ladder ergometer; External load; Climb assist; Restricted space; Physical Employment Standard. iii iv Table of Contents Acknowledgements i Abstract ii Table of contents v List of figures viii List of tables x List of publications xi List of abbreviations xii 1.0 Introduction 1 1.1 Aims and Objectives 2 2.0 Literature Review 5 2.1 Occupational fitness standards 5 2.2 Ladder climbing research 8 2.3 Early ladder climbing research (1970s) 9 2.4 A shift to biomechanics- research from 1977 – 1983 13 2.5 Post 2000 research 18 3.0 A survey of wind turbine technicians 21 3.1 Introduction 21 3.2 Method 23 3.3 Results 25 3.4 Discussion 29 3.5 Limitations 35 3.6 Conclusion 36 v 4.0 A reliability study of physiological and psychophysical variables in relation to pitched ladder ergometer climbing 37 4.1 Introduction 37 4.2 Method 38 4.3 Results 43 4.4 Discussion 46 4.5 Limitations 47 4.6 Conclusion 48 5.0 A comparison of pitched and vertical ladder ergometer climbing 49 5.1 Introduction 49 5.2 Method 50 5.3 Results 53 5.4 Discussion 55 5.5 Limitations 58 5.6 Conclusion 58 6.0 The physiological effect of a ‘climb assist’ device on vertical ladder climbing 60 6.1 Introduction 60 6.2 Method 61 6.3 Results 64 6.4 Discussion 65 6.5 Limitations 69 6.6 Conclusion 69 7.0 The effect of external load carriage and space restriction on vertical ladder ergometer climbing 71 vi 7.1 Introduction 71 7.2 Method 72 7.3 Results 80 7.4 Discussion 84 7.5 Limitations 95 7.6 Conclusion 96 8.0 Discussion 98 8.1 Limitations 105 8.2 Implications 108 8.2 Future Research 110 9.0 Conclusion 115 10.0 Appendix I Job advertisements 117 11.0 Appendix II Wind turbine technician survey 121 12.0 Appendix III Reliability study participant information sheet 134 13.0 Appendix IV Informed consent form 137 14.0 Appendix V Pre activity readiness questionnaire 138 15.0 Appendix VI Calibration procedure for Cosmed K4 B2 140 16.0 Appendix VII Chapter six participant information sheet 141 17.0 Appendix VIII Chapter six pre activity readiness questionnaire 144 18.0 Appendix IX Chapter six informed consent form 145 19.0 Appendix X Chapter seven participant information sheet 146 20.0 Appendix XI Chapter seven informed consent form 151 21.0 Appendix XII Wind turbine schematics 152 22.0 Appendix XIII Images of breadths, heights and lengths 153 23.0 Reference List 157 vii List of Figures Figure 1.1 Labelled wind turbine 1 Figure 1.2 Thesis Overview 4 Figure 2.1 Timeline of ladder climbing research 9 Figure 3.1 Wind turbine technician survey construction timeline 24 Figure 3.2 Length of time employed in the wind energy industry 26 Figure 3.3 Number of days per week a wind turbine is climbed 26 Figure 3.4 Response to types of tasks completed on a wind turbine 27 Figure 3.5.
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