Top

Published in:

2022 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

Firefighters’ Anthropometrics: A Comparison Between Two Portuguese Fire Brigades

Authors : Anna S. P. Moraes, Miguel A. F. Carvalho, Rachel S. Boldt, Fernando B. N. Ferreira, Susan P. Ashdown, Linsey Griffin

Published in: Proceedings of the 21st Congress of the International Ergonomics Association (IEA 2021)

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Activate our intelligent search to find suitable subject content or patents.

search-config

AI-assisted search

Off

Abstract

In firefighting, fit and sizing of personal protective equipment are directly related with the protection level, work performance, and comfort of firefighters. Furthermore, proper fit and sizing depend on appropriate sizing systems and the validity of the data from which they were constructed. Thus, anthropometric data are paramount for personal protective equipment design. Despite recent studies, anthropometric databases on firefighters are still very limited. Aiming to fulfill this shortcoming as well as to understand if Portuguese firefighters’ protective equipment is adjusted to their anthropometrics, a study designated as Size FF Portugal – Anthropometric Study of Portuguese Firefighters is currently underway. This paper presents a preliminary comparison of anthropometric data of firefighters from two different fire brigades: a mixed brigade and a professional brigade. Results of an initial analysis show that participants from the professional brigade were on average 29 mm taller than participants from the mixed brigade. Moreover, participants from the mixed brigade were on average 6.93 kg heavier. Further, results of inferential ANOVA test at a 95% confidence level revealed statistically significant differences of the stature and weight between career-volunteer firefighters from the mixed brigade and career firefighters from the professional brigade. Furthermore, an examination of Body Mass Index revealed that 71.88% of all participants from the mixed brigade as well as 41.58% of participants from the professional brigade were considered above the normal weight range. Differences of anthropometric measurements between the two fire brigades reveal the relevance in developing a more comprehensive yet detailed anthropometric database of Portuguese firefighters.

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 102.000 Bücher
über 537 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Automobil + Motoren
Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Springer Professional "Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 67.000 Bücher
über 390 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Automobil + Motoren
Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 67.000 Bücher
über 340 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

previous chapter Mexican Older-Adult Sitting and Standing Anthropometric Dimensions. Comparison with Other Populations

next chapter A Motion Capture System for Hand Movement Recognition

Including firefighting and fire prevention occupations, police, detectives, and guards.

NC170 Multistate Project – Personal Protective Technologies for Current and Emerging Occupational Hazards.

BMI = weight/height² (kg/m²).

According to the Decree-Law no. 247/2007 [19], Portuguese fire brigades are classified into 4 types: professional fire brigades, mixed fire brigades, volunteer fire brigades, and private fire brigades. Professional fire brigades have exclusively career firefighters and depend on a municipality. Mixed fire brigades depend on a municipality or an association of firefighters and have both career firefighters and volunteer firefighters.

Hereafter referred to as MB.

Career firefighters serving in mixed brigades may also offer their services on a volunteer basis. In this fire brigade, career firefighters usually volunteer during night shifts and weekend shifts.

Part-time firefighters who voluntarily offer their services in firefighting. In this brigade, volunteer firefighters serve during night and weekend shifts.

Hereafter referred to as PB.

Some participants decided to interrupt their participation and others were not available to conclude all data collection stages.

However, many participants of the PB did not complete all data collection stages. Due to this limitation, some data were not discussed in this paper, such as participants’ average age and years of experience in firefighting.

Weight, PB: 109.7 kg > 76.72 + 3*9.96 kg.

Statistic F for mean stature was 3.08767 (not in the 95% critical value accepted range: [−∞: 3.0658]).

Statistic F for mean weight was 7.52212 (not in the 95% critical value accepted range: [−∞: 3.0658]).

Difference 31.87 mm; p-value = 0.04789.

Difference 11.04 mm; p-value = 0.88988.

Difference 20.82 mm; p-value = 0.60026.

Difference 9.42 kg; p-value = 0.00057.

Difference 9.97 kg; p-value = 0.06593.

Difference 0.55 kg; p-value = 0.98967.

According to the study: stature, body weight, acromiale height, crotch height, and some circumference measurements (hip girth and chest girth).

Referred as permanent firefighters and including both active and non-active firefighters.

According to the study: stature, body weight, and some circumference measurements.

Zakaria, N., Gupta, D.: Apparel sizing: existing sizing systems and the development of new sizing systems. In: Gupta, D., Zakaria, N. (eds.) Anthropometry, Apparel Sizing and Design, pp. 3–33. Woodhead Publishing, Cambridge (2014). https://doi.org/10.1533/9780857096890.1.3

Hsiao, H., Long, D., Snyder, K.: Anthropometric differences among occupational groups. Ergonomics. 45, 136–152 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1080/00140130110115372CrossRef

Zhuang, Z., Landsittel, D., Benson, S., Roberge, R., Shaffer, R.: Facial anthropometric differences among gender, ethnicity, and age groups. Ann. Occup. Hyg. 54, 391–402 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1093/annhyg/meq007CrossRef

Stewart, A., Ledingham, R., Williams, H.: Variability in body size and shape of UK offshore workers: a cluster analysis approach. Appl. Ergon. 58, 265–272 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2016.07.001CrossRef

Hsiao, H., Whitestone, J., Kau, T.Y., Whisler, R., Routley, J.G., Wilbur, M.: Sizing firefighters: method and implications. Hum. Factors 56, 873–910 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1177/0018720813516359CrossRef

Laing, R.M., Holland, E.J., Wilson, C.A., Niven, B.E.: Development of sizing systems for protective clothing for the adult male. Ergonomics 42, 1249–1257 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1080/001401399184929CrossRef

Stirling, M.: National Anthropometry Survey of Female Firefighters - Designing for safety, performance and comfort. Tamworth (2002)

Boorady, L.M.: Bunker gear for fire fighters: does it fit today’s fire fighters? J. Text. Apparel Technol. Manag. 9, 1–15 (2015)

Langseth-Schmidt, K.: Anthropometric fit evaluation of structural firefighters’ protective pants: a gender comparision study (2014). https://search-proquest-com.proxy.library.cornell.edu/docview/1651620916?pq-origsite=summon&accountid=10267

10.

Veghte, J.H.: Field Evaluation of Chemical Protective Suits. Beavercreek (1991)

11.

McQuerry, M.: Effect of structural turnout suit fit on female versus male firefighter range of motion. Appl. Ergon. 82, 102974 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2019.102974CrossRef

12.

Lohman, T.G., Roche, A.F., Martorell, R. (eds.): Anthropometric Standardization Reference Manual - Abridged Edition. Human Kinetics Books, Champaign (1991)

13.

International Organization for Standardization: EN-ISO 15535:2012 - General Requirements for establishing anthropometric databases (2014)

14.

World Health Organization: Obesity: preventing and managing the global epidemic: report of a WHO consultation, Geneva (2000)

15.

Pheasant, S., Haslegrave, C.M.: Bodyspace: Anthropometry, Ergonomics and the Design of Work. CRC Press - Taylor & Francis Group, Boca Raton (2006)

16.

Park, H., Hahn, K.H.Y.: Perception of firefighters turnout ensemble and level of satisfaction by body movement. Int. J. Fash. Des. Technol. Educ. 7, 85–95 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1080/17543266.2014.889763CrossRef

17.

Ode, J., Knous, J., Schlaff, R., Hemenway, J., Peterson, J., Lowry, J.: Accuracy of body mass index in volunteer firefighters. Occup. Med. (Chic. Ill) 64, 193–197 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1093/occmed/kqt143

18.

Statistics Portugal - InstitutoNacional de Estatística: Firemen (N.o) by Geographic localization (NUTS-2013), Sex, Age group and Type of link (2019)

19.

Ministério da Administração Interna: Decreto-Lei no. 247/2007 de 27 de Junho do Ministério da Administração Interna, Portugal (2007)

Title: Firefighters’ Anthropometrics: A Comparison Between Two Portuguese Fire Brigades
Authors: Anna S. P. Moraes
Miguel A. F. Carvalho
Rachel S. Boldt
Fernando B. N. Ferreira
Susan P. Ashdown
Linsey Griffin
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
Book: Proceedings of the 21st Congress of the International Ergonomics Association (IEA 2021)
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-74613-1

Electronic ISBN: 978-3-030-74614-8

Copyright Year: 2022
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-74614-8_12

Springer Professional

Abstract

Please log in to get access to your license.

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Springer Professional "Technik"

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"