Citation

Zare S, Hemmatjo R, Allahyari T, Hajaghazadeh M, Hajivandi A, Aghabeigi M, Kazemi R. Ergonomics 2018; 61(10): 1334-1344.

Affiliation

Department of Ergonomics , School of Public Health, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences , Iran.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/00140139.2018.1484524

PMID

29862929

Abstract

This study examined the impact of various types of firefighting activities on firefighters' physiological responses and cognitive function. Each firefighter was engaged in three conditions: (1) Live-fire activities (LFA), (2) Typical firefighting activities (TFA), and (3) Rescue operations at height (ROH). The effects of various types of firefighting activities on the physiological responses and cognitive function were evaluated by heart rate (HR), temporal artery temperature (TT), and the correct response (CR) on a cognitive test. The results indicated that, compared to the baseline, physiological response increased, while information processing performance decreased after the activity. Furthermore, HR and TT were significantly lower at the end of the firefighting activity in the LFA (149.33 bpm; 38.08 ^○C) compared with the TFA (152.22 bpm; 38.17 ^○C) and ROH (159.28 bpm; 38.24 ^○C) conditions. Also, CR was significantly higher at the end of the activity in the LFA and TFA compared with the ROH condition. The results showed that rescue at height was more intensive than the other firefighting tasks in decreasing physiological and cognitive function capacity after the experiment. Practitioner Summary: We assumed that various types of firefighting activities would have different effects on physiological and cognitive functions during firefighting activities. The Findings suggest that rescue at height operations, performed without the use of special protective equipment, was more influential than other firefighting duties in changing firefighters' physiological and cognitive capacity.

Language: en

Keywords

cognitive function; firefighting activities; psychophysiological responses