OCCUPATIONAL WORK CAPACITY

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Abstract
For testing physical work capacity, two limits should be distinguished: maximal and occupational work capacity. Maximal work capacity is the work which yields for a few minutes the greatest oxygen-intake possible for an individual. Occupational work capacity is the highest work-level permissible in daily occupational work in kcal/min. For young and healthy people up to about 30 years of age the occupational work capacity is about ⅕ of the maximal work capacity. The maximal work capacity falls with increasing age until the age of 70 years when it is ⅔ its original value. Occupational work capacity remains undiminished. The usual work capacity tests demand extremely high levels of work from the subject, e.g. step-tests, and do not determine the occupational but only the maximal work capacity. They give values far too low for the occupational work capacity of people doing little exorcise or people over 30 years of age. The only test giving the occupational work capacity in terms of the calories which can be expended without fatigue, during occupational work, is a test measuring the rise of the pulse rate with increasing work on a bicycle-ergomotor. The author introduced this test under the name of ‘ Leistungs-Puls-Index ’ (LPI). The normal values of maximal and occupational work capacity for male and female persons are given in kcal/min for the age range 4 to 60 years.
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