• 복식문화연구
• /
• 제27권1호
• /
• 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.

• 한국안전학회지
• /
• 제37권6호
• /
• 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.

• 한국생활환경학회지
• /
• 제24권5호
• /
• 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.

• 한국재난정보학회 논문집
• /
• 제12권4호
• /
• pp.381-388
• /
• 2016

본 연구에서는 현재 화재진압 업무에 종사하고 있는 화재진압대원들의 개인보호장구 보급실태와 성능 품질에 관한 인식을 설문조사를 통해 조사하였다. 그 결과 대부분의 응답자들이 보유기준에 적합하게 지급받았다고 응답하였으나 12%의 응답자는 부족한 장비가 있다고 응답하였다. 또한 장비의 성능 만족도 조사에서도 대부분 만족하고 있으나, 안전장갑의 경우 불만족 의견이 50%가 넘게 나타났다. 전체 설문조사 결과를 종합하면 내용연수에 의해 결정되는 현재의 지급기준을 사용시간 또는 빈도에 따른 교체주기로 개선이 시급히 필요하며, 이에 대한 후속 연구를 통해 새로운 기준을 마련해야 할 것이다.

• 한국재난정보학회 논문집
• /
• 제13권4호
• /
• pp.529-536
• /
• 2017

본 연구에서는 화재현장에서 소방관들이 느끼는 위험성과 돌발화염에 대한 인식에 관하여 조사하고 연령, 경력 및 계급에 따른 인식의 차이를 통계적으로 비교 분석하였다. 화재현장에서 느끼는 위험성은 계급에 따라 인식의 차이가 있음을 확인하였으며, 화재현장에서의 돌발화염 노출 가능성에 대해서는 70% 이상의 응답자가 노출가능성이 높다고 응답하였으나 연령, 경력, 직급에 따른 인식 차이는 없는 것으로 조사되었다. 그러나 만약 화재현장에서 돌발화염을 겪게 될 경우의 위기대처 능력에 관한 조사에서는 응답자의 연령, 경력, 직급에 따라 인식의 차이가 있는 것으로 나타났다. 이러한 결과를 통해 볼 때 향후 돌발화염의 모의 훈련 등의 강화가 보다 절실히 요구되며, 돌발화염에 따른 표준작전절차의 개선이나 화재진압교육의 보완을 통해 인명사고를 최소화하기 위한 방안들이 강구되어야 할 것으로 판단된다.