Bach Aaron J E, Maley Matthew J, Minett Geoffrey M, Stewart Ian B
Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia.
Temperature (Austin). 2018 Jul 29;5(4):348-358. doi: 10.1080/23328940.2018.1493907. eCollection 2018.
Despite extensive documentation directed specifically toward mitigating thermal strain of first responders, we wished to ascertain the degree to which first responders applied cooling strategies, and what opinions are held by the various agencies/departments within the United States. An internet-based survey of first responders was distributed to the International Association of Fire Chiefs, International Association of Fire Firefighters, National Bomb Squad Advisory Board and the USA Interagency Board and their subsequent departments and branches. Individual first responder departments were questioned regarding the use of pre-, concurrent, post-cooling, types of methods employed, and/or reasons why they had not incorporated various methods in first responder deployment. Completed surveys were collected from 119 unique de-identified departments, including those working in law enforcement (29%), as firefighters (29%), EOD (28%) and HAZMAT technicians (15%). One-hundred and eighteen departments (99%) reported heat strain/illness to be a risk to employee safety during occupational duties. The percentage of departments with at least one case of heat illness in the previous year were as follows: fire (39%) HAZMAT (23%), EOD (20%) and law enforcement (18%). Post-cooling was the scheduled cooling method implemented the most (63%). Fire departments were significantly more likely to use post-cooling, as well as combine two types of scheduled cooling compared to other departments. Importantly, 25% of all departments surveyed provided no cooling whatsoever. The greatest barriers to personnel cooling were as follows - availability, cost, logistics, and knowledge. Our findings could aid in a better understanding of current practices and perceptions of heat illness and injury prevention in United States first responders. EOD: explosive ordnance disposal; HAZMAT: hazardous materials.
尽管有大量专门针对减轻急救人员热应激的文献资料，但我们仍希望确定急救人员采用降温策略的程度，以及美国各机构/部门持有何种观点。我们向国际消防长官协会、国际消防员协会、国家拆弹小组咨询委员会和美国跨部门委员会及其后续部门和分支机构发放了一份针对急救人员的在线调查问卷。我们询问了各个急救人员部门关于预冷却、同时冷却、后冷却的使用情况、所采用的方法类型，以及他们未在急救人员部署中采用各种方法的原因。我们从119个经过身份识别去除处理的独特部门收集了完成的调查问卷，这些部门包括执法部门（29%）、消防员（29%）、爆炸物处理小组（28%）和危险材料技术员（15%）。118个部门（99%）报告称热应激/疾病是职业职责期间对员工安全的一种风险。上一年至少有一例热疾病病例的部门百分比情况如下：消防部门（39%）、危险材料部门（23%）、爆炸物处理小组（20%）和执法部门（18%）。后冷却是实施最多的常规冷却方法（63%）。与其他部门相比，消防部门显著更有可能使用后冷却，以及结合两种常规冷却类型。重要的是，所有接受调查的部门中有25%根本没有提供任何冷却措施。人员冷却面临的最大障碍如下——可用性、成本、后勤和知识。我们的研究结果有助于更好地了解美国急救人员目前在热疾病和伤害预防方面的做法和认知。EOD：爆炸物处理；HAZMAT：危险材料
