• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
• /
• v.41 no.5
• /
• pp.950-965
• /
• 2017

This present study proposed a newly developed test method to evaluate the dexterity and mobility of a firefighter's protective gloves. The first step evaluated the mobility and dexterity of the current type of fire protective gloves and three new types of protective gloves using Don-doff test, ASTM dexterity, Minnesota dexterity, Bennett hand tool test, and ASTM torque test. Three firefighters ($47.3{\pm}5.0yr$ in age, $178.6{\pm}2.9cm$ in height) participated in a series of experiments. The second step was to design and suggest an integrated test method based on the results of the first experiment. As a result of the first experiment, we concluded that 1) the mobility and dexterity tests for firefighting gloves should include both wet and dry tests, 2) The three kinds of dexterity tests could be integrated into one test, and 3) The don-doff test and the torque test should be independent from the newly developed integrated test. In summary, we suggested a simplified test method that combined ASTM dexterity, Minnesota dexterity, and Bennett hand tool test. The integrated system can reduce total time spent on dexterity tests and improve the validity of the test in terms of firefighters' manual work.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
• /
• v.40 no.5
• /
• pp.921-935
• /
• 2016

This research analyzed the manual performance of firefighting protective gloves on global markets in order to suggest an evaluation method for firefighting protective gloves wearing comfort. We collected 13 types of firefighting gloves from domestic and international markets (7 types from Korea, 3 types form Europe, 2 types from the U.S and 1 type from Japan). We set the Don-Doff test as a basal requirement for moving toward to further manual performance tests that consist of: ASTM dexterity test, Minnesota dexterity test, Bennett hand tool test and ASTM torque test. All gloves were evaluated in dry and wet conditions, we included eight current male firefighters ($43.4{\pm}7.0yr$ in age, $173.1{\pm}4.4cm$ in height, $79.9{\pm}9.2kg$ in body mass) for the tests. Four gloves (1 Korea, 1 U.S, 1 Germany, and 1 Japan) out of thirteen firefighting gloves passed the Don-Doff test and had great subject preferences. There was no significant difference between dry and wet conditions on the ASTM dexterity test, Minnesota dexterity test, Bennett hand tool test and ASTM torque test. However, Japanese gloves had the greatest score and showed 3-4 times faster completion time on the ASTM dexterity test (p<.05), 1.2-1.5 times faster on the Minnesota dexterity test (p<.05), as fast as the bare hand on Bennett hand tool test (p<.05), and greater performance on the ASTM torque test compared to bare hand. In conclusion, Don-Doff test in wet conditions should be the first step for a mobility evaluation of domestic firefighting protective gloves; subsequently, a comprehensive test assorting ASTM, Minnesota, and Bennett test should be developed as a second step. The current ASTM torque test can be adopted as a third step. This three-step-method for evaluating firefighting protective glove mobility can be expected to expand into surveys of other safety gloves in Korea.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
• /
• v.11 no.5
• /
• pp.353-361
• /
• 2020

Objectives: This study was attempted to confirm the convergence education effect of donning and doffing Personal Protective Equipment(PPE) for Non-medical Personnel. Method: Three training sessions in 2018 were conducted for 28 dedicated staff who met Level D personal protective equipment. After the training, the scores of PPE donning and doffing were collected. Friedman and Wilcoxon's Signed-Ranks Tests were performed. Results: As the number of training increased, the score of doffing PPE increased significantly. And the differences by frequency, the score of the donning PPE was significantly increased in the 3rd rather than the 1st. However, the score of doff was increased in the first to third cases, but it was not significant. Conclusion: The results of this study found that the effect of doffing PPE education was relatively lower than that of donning practice. so the increase in the number of training sessions or the periodic training is important.