Ergonomic evaluation of protective clothing for earthquake disaster search and rescue team members
International Journal of Clothing Science and Technology
ISSN: 0955-6222
Article publication date: 7 November 2016
Abstract
Purpose
The ergonomic performance of protective clothing for earthquake disaster search and rescue team members is significant for its protective performance. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
By experimental simulations of the rescue tasks, an evaluation system for the protective clothing in both static and dynamic conditions was designed and established in this study. In static evaluation, motion capture system was used to measure the ranges of motions. The mobility was analyzed by the comprehensive evaluation method. In dynamic experiments, three types of rescue tasks were simulated for ergonomic evaluation. The results were analyzed based on the multi-levels joint evaluation method.
Findings
It was shown that the established evaluation system could meet well with the requirements of the ergonomic evaluation.
Originality/value
Fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method is an effective tool in ergonomic evaluation of clothing. The newly designed coverall and suit are of better ergonomic performance compared with the in-service clothing.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support from the National Nature Science Foundation (Grant No. 51576038), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. 16D110713), and the Open Funding Project of National Key Laboratory of Human Factors Engineering (Grant No. SYFD150051812K).
Citation
Lin, X., Zhai, L., Zhang, M., Wang, Y. and Li, J. (2016), "Ergonomic evaluation of protective clothing for earthquake disaster search and rescue team members", International Journal of Clothing Science and Technology, Vol. 28 No. 6, pp. 820-829. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCST-11-2015-0124
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2016, Emerald Group Publishing Limited