The influence of designs of protective uniforms on firefighters’ performance during moderate physical exercises

The aim of this study was to verify whether the minor differences in the design of uniforms and their fit can be quantified in terms of their impact on firefighters’ cardiorespiratory parameters and subjective perception of these uniforms. The impact of minor design improvements compared to the existing designs of personal protective clothing (PPC) is still relatively difficult to quantify due to the lack of sensitive devices used in smart measuring methodologies; however, the perception of these slight differences is reported by PPC users. The impact of these design differences in PPC on firefighters was studied via physiological tests based on occupation-related activities in which cardiorespiratory parameters were monitored and three-dimensional (3D) silhouette scanning was performed on the firefighters. Apart from heart rate (beats/min), none of the other measured physiological parameters, for example, oxygen consumption (VO2, ml/min) demonstrated statistically significant differences when firefighters were testing uniforms: ergonomic (ER), standard (ST), bulky (BU), and reference outfit (RO), the latter being T-shirt and shorts. A statistically significant correlation was found between parameters measured via 3D body scanning and selected cross-sections of the silhouettes as well as subjective assessments of easiness of specific movement performance during the physiological test and assessment of bulkiness of the uniforms. There is a limited influence of the minor design differences between firefighters’ uniforms on the selected physiological parameters of the subjects wearing them. The outcome of the study can be utilized when performing the test on subjects and improving designs of PPC.