TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2014//
TI  - Subjective and objective analysis of three water pump systems carried by forest firefighters
JO  - Work
A1  - Moser, Daniel J.
A1  - Graham, Ryan B.
A1  - Stevenson, Joan M.
A1  - Costigan, Patrick A.
SP  - 45
EP  - 53
VL  - 47
IS  - 1
N2  - BACKGROUND: The Mark 3 (M3) water power pump is an integral piece of wildfire fighting equipment. However, it is provided to fire stations without a carrying harness. The currently-used carrying harness was very uncomfortable, especially when carrying the pumps considerable distance in a forest to reach a water source. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to advise the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources on the selection of a new M3 load carriage system. PARTICIPANTS: Twenty Fire Rangers wore the three systems (Original, Prototype, and Modified) through a circuit of tasks representative of their working environment. METHODS: Subjective and objective approaches were combinedto assess and rank the M3 carriage systems. Subjective visual analogue scale ratings were obtained for ease of loading/unloading, comfort, system stability, and overall performance. Tri-axial accelerometers were mounted on each pump and at the sternum of each participant to determine relative pump-carrier accelerations. RESULTS: Overall, the Prototype was ranked as the best; it resulted in the lowest relative pump-carrier accelerations on 10 out of 15 objective measures, and also received a first place ranking on all subjective variables. CONCLUSION: It was recommended that the Prototype be implemented as the M3 carriage system for fire suppression teams.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 1051-9815
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.3233/WOR-131690
ID  - ref1
ER  -