Physiological evaluation of air-fed ensembles.

The goal of this study was to evaluate the respiratory and metabolic stresses of air-fed ensembles used by workers in the nuclear, chemical, and pharmaceutical industries during rest, low-, and moderate-intensity treadmill exercise. Fourteen men and six women wore two different air-fed ensembles (AFE-1 and AFE-2) and one two-piece supplied-air respirator (SA) at rest (REST) and while walking for 6min at oxygen consumption (V.O2) rates of 1.

Physiological effects of boot weight and design on men and women firefighters.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of two leather (L1, L2) and two rubber (R1, R2) boots on firefighters' metabolic and respiratory variables during simulated firefighting tasks. Twenty-five men and 25 women, while wearing full turnout clothing, a 10.5-kg backpack, gloves, helmet, and one of four randomly assigned pairs of firefighter boots, walked for 6 min at 3 mph (4.

Suspension tolerance in a full-body safety harness, and a prototype harness accessory.

Workers wearing full-body safety harnesses are at risk for suspension trauma if they are not rescued in 5 to 30 min after a successfully arrested fall. Suspension trauma, which may be fatal, occurs when a person's legs are immobile in a vertical posture, leading to the pooling of blood in the legs, pelvis, and abdomen, and the reduction of return blood flow to the heart and brain. To measure suspension tolerance time, 22 men and 18 women with construction experience were suspended from the chest D-ring (CHEST) and back D-ring (BACK) of full-body, fall-arrest harnesses.