Questionnaire on Firefighters’ Protective Clothing in China

The objective of this work was to investigate the subjective perception of firefighters to the current in-service FPC to provide valuable data in FPC research and to guide the design of FPC in the future. A survey was carried out on 1201 firefighters from 119 fire stations, 25 provinces. The survey was related to basic information, trouble experienced, subjective evaluation, heat illness and injury experienced. Results indicate that the current in service FPC might restrict mobility of firefighters, and the most seriously restricted parts were the thigh, knee, arm, elbow and ankle. While wearing FPC in work some firefighters felt overheating in summer, and some felt cold in winter. The number of surveyed firefighters who reported being injured was 247 (21%) and hand was the part most frequently injured. We suggest that FPC design in the future should improve its mobility based on the results of ergonomic evaluation. The efficient cooling methods under condition representative to firefighting in summer should be developed. Furthermore, the FPC design in the future should consider the effect of weather and the protection of hand during firefighting should be strengthened.