• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
• /
• v.27 no.1
• /
• pp.1-10
• /
• 2019

Firefighters wear Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for protection from environmental hazards. However, due to the layers of protective functions, the PPE inevitably adds excessive weight, bulkiness, and thermal stress to firefighters. This study investigated the adverse impact of wearing PPE as an occupational stressor on the firefighter's cognitive functioning. Twenty-three firefighters who had been involved in firefighting at least for 1 year were recruited. The overall changing trend in the firefighter's cognitive functioning (short-term memory, long-term memory, and inductive reasoning) was measured by the scores of three standardized cognitive tests at the baseline and the follow-up, after participating in a moderate-intensity physical activity, wearing a full ensemble of the PPE. The study findings evinced the negative impact of the PPE on the firefighter's cognitive functioning, especially in short-term memory and inductive reasoning. No significant influence was found on the firefighter's long-term memory. The results were consistent when the participant's age and BMI were controlled. The outcomes of the present study will not only fill the gap in the literature, but also provide critical justification to stakeholders, including governments, policymakers, academic communities, and industry, for such efforts to improve human factors of the firefighter's PPE by realizing the negative consequences of the added layers and protective functions on their occupational safety. Study limitations and future directions were also discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
• /
• v.37 no.6
• /
• pp.136-147
• /
• 2022

The purpose of this study is to analyze four cases of firefighter burns in various fire scenes and to find prevention measures to decrease firefighter injuries. Among the analysis reports prepared by the National Fire Research Institute of Korea from 2016 to 2020, four burn-related accidents are summarized and the main causes are conveyed. The four accidents include second-degree burns from using extinguishers during containment of fires; nine firefighters burned due to re-ignition in the LPG car repair shop; two firefighters injured with third-degree burns from using fire extinguishers during life-saving events in residential housing; and injuries from the radiant heat of the tank BLEVE near the factory fire. These cases are comprehensively investigated in their respective scenes and analyzed based on the fire site investigation reports from the fire department and related theoretical explanations of risk for each accident scene. In the third case study, some experimental research is conducted to evaluate the risk involved with the use of safety gloves. This is evaluated by reviewing Fire Tactics and Standard Operational Procedures (SOP) to determine improvements and recommendations for an efficient firefighting response. Results show that the main causes of burn accidents are the insufficient use of personal protective equipment (PPE), such as safety gloves, and the failure to follow firefighting tactics or SOPs. Through the accident investigation and assessment, it is concluded that to reduce the frequency of burn accidents, the performance of firefighting equipment, SOPs, protection tactics, and safety policy systems require improvement.

• Journal of Korean Living Environment System
• /
• v.24 no.5
• /
• pp.549-561
• /
• 2017

We conducted a nationalwide questionnaire to investigate accidental experiences and injuries at flashover or flame-fire for active firefighters in the line of duty. A total of 794 firefighters participated in this survey (764 males, 27 females, and 3 respondents; $39.2{\pm}8.4yr$ in age, $173.7{\pm}5.1cm$ in height, $73.4{\pm}8.6kg$ in body mass). The results showed that high risk circumstances the most frequently experienced while firefighting in Korea was flashover followed by backdraft, rollover and flameover. At the high risk circumstances the most frequently-experienced injuries were bruise, stabs and burns. Firefighters hoped to reduce the total mass of personal protective equipment (PPE), improve the mobility of the PPE and dexterity of protective gloves, so that they could escape from the high risk circumstances as fast as possible. In particular, requirements for improvement on protective gloves were greater than those on other PPE. The present study suggested that the need for improvements on the current firefighters' PPE to cope with emergency high risk situations in terms of PPE mass reduction and mobility.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
• /
• v.12 no.4
• /
• pp.381-388
• /
• 2016

In this study, we surveyed the supply and perception of Personal Protective Equipments for firefighters. As a result, most of the respondents answered that they were paid in accordance with the supply standard, but 12% of the respondents said that there were insufficient equipment. Also, satisfaction with the performance of the equipment is mostly satisfied, but the safety gloves are more than 50% dissatisfied. In summing up the results of the survey, it is urgently necessary to improve the current supply standard, which is determined by the life of PPE, to the replacement period according to the using time or frequency. Also, a new standard should be prepared through the follow - up study.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
• /
• v.13 no.4
• /
• pp.529-536
• /
• 2017

In this study, the perceptions were surveyed fire risk and flash flames concerning the firefighters. The results were statistically evaluated according to age, experience and rank. More than 70% of the respondents answered that there is a possibility of unexpected flame exposure in the field of fire, but there was no recognition difference according to age, experience and rank. However, if there is an emergency situation in the field of fire, the survey on the ability to cope with crises showed that there is a difference in perception depending on the age, career, and rank of respondents. From these results, it is expected that strengthening simulation training of unexpected situation will be more urgently required in the future, and measures should be taken to minimize human accidents through improvement of standard operation procedures or supplement of fire suppression education according to unexpected situation.