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Are Our Boots Contributing to LODD's?
Reprinted from EHS Today
NIOSH study examines Safety, health implications of firefighters’ boots, By Laura Walter, EHS Today, 12/19/08
As the population of firefighters becomes more diverse, one size or style of protective equipment may not fit all responders. Can the weight of protective boots therefore put some firefighters at risk? Scientists at two National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) laboratories are conducting research to understand the physiological and biomechanical effects of boot weight on male and female firefighters.
More than 1.1 million men and women work as firefighters in the United States. Firefighters have an increased risk of occupational injuries and fatalities due to the stressful nature of their work and the complexity of their work environment. According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), firefighters suffered an estimated 80,100 occupational injuries in 2007. About a quarter of these injuries were due to overexertion and another quarter were due to falls.
As part of their personal protective equipment, most firefighters wear either heavily insulated rubber boots or leather boots. Rubber boots are 3 pounds heavier than leather boots, but generally cost about half as much. Standards-setting organizations, such as the NFPA, have expressed concern that boot weight may contribute to the stress of firefighting.
The research was conducted in NIOSH laboratories in Morgantown, W.Va., and Pittsburgh, Pa., with study participants recruited from the Morgantown, W.Va., western Maryland, northern Virginia and eastern Ohio areas. These firefighters, while carrying a backpack and wearing a pair of randomly assigned rubber boots (2 models), leather boots (2 models), or safety shoes (baseline), were tested for oxygen consumption, joint movement, and walking patterns. The boots tested in the study were boots that NFPA and firefighters reported as commonly used.
Affected Movement, Balance
The preliminary findings from the study, which have been reported as work in progress at several scientific conferences, suggest that firefighters adjusted their walking patterns and postures when wearing heavy firefighter boots. They walked slower, took wider steps, and for each stride they took, the percentage of time when both feet were in contact with the floor was longer with heavier boots, suggesting that they need more time to balance their body during walking. Female firefighters tended to walk slower and take smaller steps than male firefighters. The gender differences in gait patterns emphasize the importance for including female subjects in the study.
In other preliminary findings of this study, boots weight was found to affect the way study participants naturally move their lower bodies. The boots limited firefighters’ ankle, knee, and hip motions, and such restrictions may affect their ability to perform tasks efficiently, such as maintaining balance or crossing obstacles effectively during firefighting.
In addition to changing the way firefighters move while performing certain tasks, an increase in boot weight can affect firefighters’ energy expenditure and breathing. In the NIOSH study, firefighters performed two exercise tasks: 1) walking on a treadmill while carrying a hose, and 2) climbing a revolving staircase. For both tasks, firefighters’ oxygen consumption, the amount they breathed, and heart rate were significantly greater when wearing rubber boots as compared with leather boots. Such increases in breathing and energy expenditure could decrease the duration of a firefighter’s self-contained breathing apparatus in an actual fire scenario.
NIOSH hopes that the final results of this research, when the study is completed and published, will provide needed information to the NFPA, fire departments and firefighters. Further research will investigate the effects of different types of firefighter boot soles and the effect of boot weight on walking over obstacles.
http://ehstoday.com/fire_emergencyresponse/fire/niosh_fiefighters_b...
Thoughts? Observations? Personal Experiences?
NIOSH study examines Safety, health implications of firefighters’ boots, By Laura Walter, EHS Today, 12/19/08
As the population of firefighters becomes more diverse, one size or style of protective equipment may not fit all responders. Can the weight of protective boots therefore put some firefighters at risk? Scientists at two National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) laboratories are conducting research to understand the physiological and biomechanical effects of boot weight on male and female firefighters.
More than 1.1 million men and women work as firefighters in the United States. Firefighters have an increased risk of occupational injuries and fatalities due to the stressful nature of their work and the complexity of their work environment. According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), firefighters suffered an estimated 80,100 occupational injuries in 2007. About a quarter of these injuries were due to overexertion and another quarter were due to falls.
As part of their personal protective equipment, most firefighters wear either heavily insulated rubber boots or leather boots. Rubber boots are 3 pounds heavier than leather boots, but generally cost about half as much. Standards-setting organizations, such as the NFPA, have expressed concern that boot weight may contribute to the stress of firefighting.
The research was conducted in NIOSH laboratories in Morgantown, W.Va., and Pittsburgh, Pa., with study participants recruited from the Morgantown, W.Va., western Maryland, northern Virginia and eastern Ohio areas. These firefighters, while carrying a backpack and wearing a pair of randomly assigned rubber boots (2 models), leather boots (2 models), or safety shoes (baseline), were tested for oxygen consumption, joint movement, and walking patterns. The boots tested in the study were boots that NFPA and firefighters reported as commonly used.
Affected Movement, Balance
The preliminary findings from the study, which have been reported as work in progress at several scientific conferences, suggest that firefighters adjusted their walking patterns and postures when wearing heavy firefighter boots. They walked slower, took wider steps, and for each stride they took, the percentage of time when both feet were in contact with the floor was longer with heavier boots, suggesting that they need more time to balance their body during walking. Female firefighters tended to walk slower and take smaller steps than male firefighters. The gender differences in gait patterns emphasize the importance for including female subjects in the study.
In other preliminary findings of this study, boots weight was found to affect the way study participants naturally move their lower bodies. The boots limited firefighters’ ankle, knee, and hip motions, and such restrictions may affect their ability to perform tasks efficiently, such as maintaining balance or crossing obstacles effectively during firefighting.
In addition to changing the way firefighters move while performing certain tasks, an increase in boot weight can affect firefighters’ energy expenditure and breathing. In the NIOSH study, firefighters performed two exercise tasks: 1) walking on a treadmill while carrying a hose, and 2) climbing a revolving staircase. For both tasks, firefighters’ oxygen consumption, the amount they breathed, and heart rate were significantly greater when wearing rubber boots as compared with leather boots. Such increases in breathing and energy expenditure could decrease the duration of a firefighter’s self-contained breathing apparatus in an actual fire scenario.
NIOSH hopes that the final results of this research, when the study is completed and published, will provide needed information to the NFPA, fire departments and firefighters. Further research will investigate the effects of different types of firefighter boot soles and the effect of boot weight on walking over obstacles.
http://ehstoday.com/fire_emergencyresponse/fire/niosh_fiefighters_b...
Thoughts? Observations? Personal Experiences?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Engineco913 on
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Mel,
This is your chance to put yourself further on the map. (Schmittendorf range lol) You could write a national grant to outfit every firefighter with Leather. Size 12W for me :)
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Permalink Reply by FETC on
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Hope they are studying the effect of wearing leathers in the winter, simply put they suck. Maybe they can study how many falls occured with firefighter injury, they are great in the warm weather but almost everyone around here pull the rubbers out for the winter.
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Permalink Reply by Jason Brooks on
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I have a pair of size 12 Black Diamond X boots that I ordered and were too big for a customer if you are interested. I think they are normal width though. He wears a 12 and they were too big for him.
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Permalink Reply by Tony P on
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Very interesting study. We're issued leather, which I find very comfortable. A few people in the FRS (nobody in my Brigade) buy their own rubber boots.
FETC? A very important consideration! One I would never had thought of, because our climate is probably a lot milder than yours - your winters involve a lot of snow/wet conditions? So I wonder if they are varying the temperature and humidity levels for the testing? Should we upset the research people by pointing this out?
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Would love to take you up on it but I am scrambling to pay bills now and don't want to deal with the wife's wrath for making a "frivilous" (her words) purchase.
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I feel your pain Brother.
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Exactly. There are several sole options for both leather and rubber boots. A good lugged sole boat, no matter rubber or leather is what you need. A well fitting leather boot is still warmer than oversized floppy rubber boots.
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Permalink Reply by Mary Ellen Shea on
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bumping my own discussion. I have no pride.
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I have worn the older and new version Pro Boots. Been around the fire service a little bit.. Yeah they made an attempt to resolve guys falling on their ass with a sole which isn't as hard and allows for better grip. But on ice and snow they still are more slippery compared to the newer shoe-fit, Globe Boots in which our department went exclusively too.
The firefighters can buy leathers but it is on your own dime, and the department will not replace them once contaminated. Most guys are probably wearing contaminated leathers and do not know it. I am sure you have all read my friend, Michael Schlags threads on the use of leather and hazmat, but then again some people cant see beyond traditions.
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I agree Rich, but boots that are too heavy is one other thing we don't need to have to care about! Not that it makes any difference in my FRS, they issue leather boots, and that's it. You want rubber? Buy them yourself - but they'd better meet or exceed the relevan Aussie Standard, and also be on the approved list of the Service. Some Vols wear them, not many. Some career, but I've seen them in leather also.
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