The effect of personal protective equipment on thermal stress: An experimental study on firefighters

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Ghiyasi, Samira^a | Nabizadeh, Hamed^b | Jazari, Milad Derakhshan^c | Soltanzadeh, Ahmad^{d; *} | Heidari, Hamidreza^d | Fardi, Ali^e | Movahed, Elham^f

Affiliations: [a] Department of Environmental Engineering, Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran | [b] Department of Occupational Safety & Health Engineering, Faculty of Health, Larestan University of Medical Sciences, Fars, Iran | [c] Department of Occupational Safety & Hygiene Engineering, School of Public Health, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences and Health Services, Shiraz, Iran | [d] Department of Occupational Safety & Health Engineering, Faculty of Health, Research Center for Environmental Pollutants, Qom University of Medical Sciences, Qom, Iran | [e] Department of Occupational Safety & Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Hamedan University of Medical Sciences and Health Services, Hamedan, Iran | [f] Department of Environmental Engineering, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Department of HSE, Tehran Sewerage Company, Tehran, Iran

Correspondence: [*] Address for correspondence: Dr. Ahman Soltanzadeh, Assistant Professor, Department of Occupational Safety & Health Engineering, Faculty of Health, Research Center for Environmental Pollutants, Qom University of Medical Sciences, Qom, Iran. E-mail: [email protected].

Abstract: BACKGROUND:Various parameters can affect the performance of firefighters. Thermal stress in firefighters is one of the most important harmful factors, which causes impaired performance and subsequent occupational accidents. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the effect of personal protective equipment (PPE) on thermal stress in firefighters. MATERIALS AND METHODS:This descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study was performed on 30 firefighters. Heart rate, metabolism and temperature parameters were measured with and without using PPE in a simulated standard chamber. Then, the two indices of predicted mean vote (PMV) and predicted percentage dissatisfied (PPD) were calculated. Data analysis was performed using SPSS version 22.0. RESULTS:The results showed that PPE-induced weight directly increased heart rate and indirectly led to an increase in metabolism and temperature as well as significant changes in PMV and PPD indices (p < 0.001). In addition, our results showed that the effect of thermal resistance of clothing (Clo) on PMV and PPD indices was very high (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION:The findings of the study indicated that heat stress in firefighters is influenced by PPE weight and thermal resistance of clothing. Therefore, cooling vests can be used to reduce the thermal stress induced by temperature rise resulted from metabolism, PPE weight and thermal resistance of clothing. Reduced thermal stress will lead to the cooling of body temperature to acceptable levels of PMV and PPD.

Keywords: Predicted mean vote (pmv), predicted percentage dissatisfied (ppd), thermal comfort, wet-bulb globe temperature (wbgt), exposure, firefighters, thermal stress, personal protective equipment

DOI: 10.3233/WOR-203259

Journal: Work, vol. 67, no. 1, pp. 141-147, 2020