PROPOSED changes designed to improve the fitness of firefighters across West Yorkshire will make it easier for the brigade to retain its ageing workforce, according to a union chief.

Firefighters who fall short of the required standards in a treadmill fitness test will now get a second chance to remain in frontline operation if they successfully perform a drill-based assessment.

They will then have six months to get up to speed, or face the eventual prospect of redeployment or early retirement.

West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service has used research by Firefit - a national steering group on fitness and health in the UK fire and rescue service - to draw up the new fitness procedures.

Firefighters already have to complete the Chester treadmill test, a 12-minute brisk-paced walk with gradually increasing gradients.

Under the new guidelines, any crew member who falls short and lasts between ten and 12 minutes will be given a physical activity risk assessment to check for any health problems such as high blood pressure or cholesterol.

If successful, they can take a practical drill-based test - featuring a hose run, equipment shuttle run, and a hose reel or casualty drag - which if they pass, would ensure they remain on frontline duties.

Any firefighters who fail to complete ten minutes will be given personal improvement plans and removed from operational duties until they are fit enough to train towards the required standards.

A report to the fire authority's human resources committee next week, states the Firefit recommendations have now been incorporated into its fitness at work policy, with formal consultation with unions set to commence "shortly".

David Williams, secretary for the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) in West Yorkshire, said the FBU had yet to be told of the new proposals.

"It seems this new process is a catch-all situation, as the brigade has realised the problem of its ageing workforce," he said.

"Those thicker-set, and perhaps older, firefighters who might struggle with the treadmill test will now have a chance to perform the drills test and remain in operation.

"When the brigade had more resources, firefighters could be retired or sacked if they weren't capable, but now we can't afford to let people go.

"If some firefighters can't pass the tests now, that number is only going to get higher and higher as the workforce ages, and we can't shore it up with new recruits.

"If we sacked four people a year who couldn't pass fitness tests, who is going to replace them to keep fire engines on the road."

On Monday, a new set of statutory guidelines on firefighter fitness requirements was introduced by the Department for Communities and Local Government as part of the Fire and Rescue National Framework for England.

The guidelines state that each fire authority must have "a process of fitness assessment and development to ensure operational personnel are enabled to maintain the standards of personal fitness required in order to perform their role safely".

A West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service spokesman said it already complied with the changes in the National Framework, with its fitness training, testing, and provision of equipment seen as "best practice nationally for quite some time".

Last month, the Telegraph & Argus revealed the brigade has no full-time firefighters under the age of 25, with the average age of crews set to rise to 48 by 2021.

Fire chiefs were warned an ongoing recruitment freeze could lead to a 'Dad's Army' of frontline firefighters.