Safety and Health at Work

  • 제8권4호
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  • Pages.386-392
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  • 2017
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  • 2093-7911(pISSN)
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  • 2093-7997(eISSN)
산업안전보건연구원 (Occupational Safety and Health Research Institute, Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency)
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The Effect of Various Hot Environments on Physiological Responses and Information Processing Performance Following Firefighting Activities in a Smoke-Diving Room

  • Hemmatjo, Rasoul (Department of Occupational Health, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences) ;
  • Motamedzade, Majid (Department of Ergonomics, School of Public Health, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences) ;
  • Aliabadi, Mohsen (Department of Occupational Health, School of Public Health, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences) ;
  • Kalatpour, Omid (Department of Occupational Health, School of Public Health, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences) ;
  • Farhadian, Maryam (Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences)
  • 투고 : 2016.09.08
  • 심사 : 2017.02.15
  • 발행 : 2017.12.30
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초록

Background: Fire service workers often implement multiple duties in the emergency conditions, with such duties being mostly conducted in various ambient temperatures. Methods: The aim of the current study was to assess the firefighters' physiological responses, information processing, and working memory prior to and following simulated firefighting activities in three different hot environments. Seventeen healthy male firefighters performed simulated firefighting tasks in three separate conditions, namely (1) low heat (LH; $29-31^{\circ}C$, 55-60% relative humidity), (2) moderate heat (MH; $32-34^{\circ}C$, 55-60% relative humidity), and (3) severe heat (SH; $35-37^{\circ}C$, 55-60% relative humidity). It took about 45-50 minutes for each firefighter to finish all defined firefighting activities and the paced auditory serial addition test (PASAT). Results: At the end of all the three experimental conditions, heart rate (HR) and tympanic temperature (TT) increased, while PASAT scores as a measure of information processing performance decreased relative to baseline. HR and TT were significantly higher at the end of the experiment in the SH ($159.41{\pm}4.25beats/min$; $38.22{\pm}0.10^{\circ}C$) compared with the MH ($156.59{\pm}3.77beats/min$; $38.20{\pm}0.10^{\circ}C$) and LH ($154.24{\pm}4.67beats/min$; $38.17{\pm}0.10^{\circ}C$) conditions (p < 0.05). There was no significant difference in PASAT scores between LH and MH (p > 0.05). Nonetheless, there was a measurable difference in PASAT scores between LH and SH (p < 0.05). Conclusion: These consequences demonstrate that ambient temperature is effective in raising the physiological responses following firefighting activities. It is therefore argued that further increase of ambient temperature can impact firefighters' information processing and working memory during firefighting activity.

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피인용 문헌

  1. Comparison of the effect of typical firefighting activities, live fire drills and rescue operations at height on firefighters’ physiological responses and cognitive function vol.61, pp.10, 2017, https://doi.org/10.1080/00140139.2018.1484524
  2. Physiological strain and decision making affected by different cooling tactics following live‐fire training vol.29, pp.2, 2017, https://doi.org/10.1002/hfm.20763
  3. The association between wet-bulb globe temperature and other thermal indices (DI, MDI, PMV, PPD, PHS, PSI and PSIhr): a field study vol.26, pp.1, 2017, https://doi.org/10.1080/10803548.2018.1475957
  4. Physiological, cognitive and neuromuscular effects of heat exposure on firefighters after a live training scenario vol.27, pp.1, 2017, https://doi.org/10.1080/10803548.2018.1550899