REDUCING THE LOAD - DEVICES TO REDUCE THE PHYSICAL DEMANDS OF FIRE-FIGHTERS DURING A SIMULATED RESCUE

摘要

Fire-fighters are routinely required to enter hot, smoke filled environments in order to search for and rescue casualties using a physically demanding 'flat drag' rescue. Two new prototype devices to aid casualty rescue were developed and tested along side the traditional flat drag method. Twenty-one serving fire-fighters completed a simulated rescue using each of the three methods in a randomised order. The results demonstrated that the two prototype methods out performed the traditional flat drag method of casualty rescue, in terms of time taken, perceived effort and physiological demand.