The Protective Performance of Process Operators’ Protective Clothing and Exposure Limits under Low Thermal Radiation Conditions
- Heus, Ronald
- Kingma, Boris R.M.
- van Berlo, Birgit M.A.
- Mol, Douwe
- Daanen, Hein A.M.
- Kuklane, Kalev
DOIAbstract
During the early stage of a fire, a process operator often acts as the first responder and may be exposed to high heat radiation levels. The present limit values of long- (>15 min) and short-term exposure (<5 min), 1.0 and 1.5 kW/m2, respectively, have been set using physiological models and manikin measurements. Since human validation is essentially lacking, this study investigated whether operators’ protective clothing offers sufficient protection during a short-term deployment. Twelve professional firefighters were exposed to three radiation levels (1.5, 2.0, and 2.5 kW/m2) when wearing certified protective clothing in front of a heat radiation panel in a climatic chamber (20 °C; 50% RH). The participants wore only briefs (male) or panti...
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