Citation

Lesniak AY, Bergstrom HC, Clasey JL, Stromberg AJ, Abel MG. J. Strength Cond. Res. 2019; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

Departments of Kinesiology and Health Promotion.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, National Strength and Conditioning Association)

DOI

10.1519/JSC.0000000000003384

PMID

31714455

Abstract

Lesniak, AY, Bergstrom, HC, Clasey, JL, Stromberg, AJ, and Abel, MG. The effect of personal protective equipment on firefighter occupational performance. J Strength Cond Res XX(X): 000-000, 2019-The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of load carriage (LC) and LC plus respirator use (LC + self-contained breathing apparatus [SCBA]) on firefighters' work capacity to enhance our understanding of occupational demands. Twenty-one male structural firefighter recruits (age: 28.6 ± 4.3 years; height: 178.6 ± 7.2 cm; body mass: 94.1 ± 15.4 kg; body fat: 22.9 ± 6.1%) participated. Occupational performance was assessed by time to complete a simulated fire ground test (SFGT). After 2 familiarization trials, recruits performed the following SFGT conditions in a randomized order: PT (physical training clothes), LC only, and LC + SCBA. To describe within-group differences between SFGT conditions, relative difference scores were calculated as follows: % difference = ([experimental trial outcome - PT trial outcome]/PT trial outcome) × 100. Statistical differences between conditions were assessed with repeated-measures analysis of variance. The level of significance was set p < 0.01. Time to complete the LC + SCBA trial (345.9 ± 43.7 seconds; p < 0.001) and LC-only trial (331.2 ± 39.3 seconds; p < 0.001) were significantly greater than the PT trial (241.0 ± 33.3 seconds). Post-SFGT rating of perceived exertion was higher in the LC + SCBA trial (6.7 ± 1.7) and LC trial (6.4 ± 1.5) compared with the PT trial (4.7 ± 1.8; p < 0.001). Heart rate and lactate measures were similar across conditions (p = 0.488; p = 0.287). Personal protective equipment (PPE) significantly decreases the work capacity and increases the perceived effort of occupational tasks. Thus, these findings describe the additional physical demands produced by PPE and indicate that performance of firefighting tasks in an unloaded condition does not reflect work capacity in a bona fide condition.

Language: en