Making chemical & biological protective gloves vapour permeable reduces thermoregulatory strain better than making armour, respirator or overboots permeable

Abstract

Wearing chemical and biological (CB) protective equipment causes thermoregulatory strain by restricting evaporative cooling. We identified [1] that a moisture vapour impermeable (MVIP) body armour liner (BAL) imposed a greater thermal burden than MVIP CB gloves (G), overboots (O) or respirator (R). The previous study progressively and cumulatively removed these MVIP items across 5 conditions when wearing a CB protective suit. This study is a repeat, except that items were removed in isolation and replaced for subsequent conditions to maintain a more uniform thermal load across comparisons. The aims of this study were to quantify the thermal burden imposed by each MVIP item whilst maintaining a high thermal load between conditions to identify the potential benefits if future equipment was made moisture vapour permeable (MVP). A second aim was to determine whether the previous experimental design [1] influenced the thermal burden imposed by each MVIP item. We hypothesised that removal of a MVIP item would reduce heat strain in this order BAL>G>R>O.