Work Wearing Protective Clothing in Hot Environments: Lessons Learned from the Development of Firefighter Personal Protective Clothing Standard Test
2. Human Science Department, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan
Abstract—Some inconsistencies within the existing test standards for firefighter’s personal protective clothing (PPE) are still remain. For that reason, and to response the need for an easier and reliable PPE standard, a new firefighter PPE standard test was developed in our laboratory. The aim of this paper is to describe some valuable lessons found in related to the men working using PPE in hot environment. Firstly, there is still more space to reduce the burden on firefighters by improving the SCBA and its harness design. Secondly, a PPE should be tested in hot environment to have a better understanding about the physiological impact of the PPE in a similar condition that it will be used. And lastly, although the tympanic temperature was more reactive, the tympanic temperature profiles were in a similar tendency to the rectal temperature profile so that the tympanic temperature measurement is acceptable in a PPE standard test.
Index Terms—personal protective equipment, self contained breathing apparatus, standard test method, firefighters
Cite: Ilham Bakri and Yutaka Tochihara, "Work Wearing Protective Clothing in Hot Environments: Lessons Learned from the Development of Firefighter Personal Protective Clothing Standard Test," Journal of Industrial and Intelligent Information, Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 9-14, January 2016. doi: 10.12720/jiii.4.1.9-14