Introduction To gain insight into which job-specific health requirements relate to self-estimated work ability, the following two research questions were formulated: Which job-specific health requirements are associated with the appraisal of work ability in ambulance drivers and paramedics? How are appraisals of physical and mental work ability associated with the appraisal of overall work ability in ambulance drivers and paramedics?

Methods Workers Health Surveillance cross-sectional data of 506 ambulance workers (236 drivers and 270 paramedics) were used. The outcomes for specific job requirements were divided into six categories; ‘having raised alertness and judgment ability’, ‘dealing with emotional peak load’, ‘to perceive and communicate’, ‘job-specific physical abilities’, ‘skin complaints’ and ‘respiratory complaints’. Work ability was appraised as overall, physical and mental/emotional. Multiple linear stepwise regression analyses were used to model the associations.

Result Outcomes in ‘raised alertness and judgment ability’ (R2=0.09), ‘job-specific physical abilities’ (R2=0.10) and ‘emotional peak load’ (R2=0.07) significantly explained appraised overall, physical and mental/emotional work ability (p<0.01). Physical and mental/emotional work ability together explained 48% of the variance in overall work ability. The explained variance by physical and mental/emotional work ability was almost 4% higher in drivers than in paramedics.

Discussion The appraisal of overall work ability was significantly explained by outcomes in ‘raised alertness and judgment ability’ and ‘emotional peak load.’ Physical work ability was significantly explained by ‘job-specific physical abilities’ and ‘raised alertness and judgment ability’ outcomes, while ‘emotional peak load’ and ‘raised alertness and judgment ability’ outcomes significantly explained mental/emotional work ability. Physical and mental/emotional work ability explain the same proportion of variance in overall work ability.