2007, Piran, Slovenia

Environmental Ergonomics XII
Igor B. Mekjavic, Stelios N. Kounalakis & Nigel A.S. Taylor (Eds.), © BIOMED, Ljubljana 2007
However, because the fire fighting techniques employed, the clothing was always
saturated with water in use, which should enhance protection. A flame manikin was
used to demonstrate that the level of burn injury following a severe (10-second) flame
challenge study was reduced from 17% TBSA with dry lightweight clothing to 4%
TBSA when the same clothing was wetted (House, 1998), and thus the clothing was
approved for military use.
DISCUSSION
A flame manikin system can be used to determine protection levels for particular
protective clothing ensembles. Alternatively, such a system can be used to compare
the levels of protection available from variations in the clothing to assist the
development process. Additionally, the system can be used to assess the protection of
clothing in more realistic scenarios that are difficult to simulate with traditional
bench-top tests of fabrics. Finally, the effects of additional clothing and equipment
worn with the clothing under evaluation can be assessed to give a more representative
indication of survivability on exposure to flame.
REFERENCES
prISO 13506 (2004). Protective clothing against heat and flame – test method for
complete garments – prediction of burn injury using an instrumented manikin.
House, J.R. & Squire, J.D. (2004). Effectiveness of Proban flame retardant in used
clothing. International Journal of Clothing Science and Technology 16(4), 361-
367.
House, J.R., Squire, J.D. & Staples, R.A.J. (2002). Optimising the number of layers in
firefighters’ hoods. International Journal of Clothing Science and Technology
14(2),111-118.
House, J.R. (1998). Balancing the fire and flash protective clothing needs of Royal
Navy personnel against the debilitating effects of heat strain. Proceedings of the
fourth International Naval Engineering Conference ‘Surviving the War’, paper 24,
Published by the Institute of Marine Engineers.
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Figure 5. Dry fire-fighting clothing
Following a 10-second flame challenge
Figure 6. Wet fire-fighting clothing
Following a 10-second flame challenge