Citation

Lee JY, Yamamoto Y, Oe R, Son SY, Wakabayashi H, Tochihara Y. Ergonomics 2014; 57(8): 1213-1221.

Affiliation

Department of Clothing and Textiles , Research Institute of Human Ecology, Seoul National University (Bld #222, Office #306), 1 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul 151-742 , Republic of Korea.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/00140139.2014.914578

PMID

24798188

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the physiological and subjective responses of the European, Japanese (JPN) and US firefighters' helmet, gloves and boots for international standardisation. Three experimental conditions were evaluated (clothing mass: 9.4, 8.2 and 10.1 kg for the three conditions, respectively) at the air temperature of 32°C and 60% relative humidity. The results showed that there was no significant difference among the three conditions in oxygen consumption, heart rate, total sweat rate, rectal temperature and mean skin temperature, whereas peripheral temperatures and subjective perceptions were lower in the JPN condition than in the other conditions (P < 0.05). These results indicate that a 0.5-kg reduction in helmet mass and a 1.1-kg reduction in boot mass during exercise resulted in a significant decrease in head and leg temperatures and subjective perceptions, while a 1.9-kg reduction in total clothing mass had insignificant influences on the metabolic burden and overall body temperature.

Language: en