Version 1
: Received: 26 July 2024 / Approved: 29 July 2024 / Online: 30 July 2024 (07:42:08 CEST)
How to cite:
Hashemian Esfahani, B.; Li, R.; Zhang, M.; Eike, R.; Song, G. Enhancing Firefighter Hoods: Innovations, Challenges, and Future Directions in PPE Design. Preprints2024, 2024072350. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202407.2350.v1
Hashemian Esfahani, B.; Li, R.; Zhang, M.; Eike, R.; Song, G. Enhancing Firefighter Hoods: Innovations, Challenges, and Future Directions in PPE Design. Preprints 2024, 2024072350. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202407.2350.v1
Hashemian Esfahani, B.; Li, R.; Zhang, M.; Eike, R.; Song, G. Enhancing Firefighter Hoods: Innovations, Challenges, and Future Directions in PPE Design. Preprints2024, 2024072350. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202407.2350.v1
APA Style
Hashemian Esfahani, B., Li, R., Zhang, M., Eike, R., & Song, G. (2024). Enhancing Firefighter Hoods: Innovations, Challenges, and Future Directions in PPE Design. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202407.2350.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Hashemian Esfahani, B., Rachel Eike and Guowen Song. 2024 "Enhancing Firefighter Hoods: Innovations, Challenges, and Future Directions in PPE Design" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202407.2350.v1
Abstract
Firefighter hoods are essential components of personal protective equipment (PPE), protecting the head, neck, and shoulders from extreme heat and hazardous particulates. This comprehensive review evaluates recent hood design and material innovations aimed at improving comfort and protective performance. Traditionally, firefighter hoods mainly focused on thermal insulation but lacked effective particulate filtration, which posed significant health risks. Recent updates to several standards set by the US National Fire Protection Association have led to advanced mul-ti-layered hoods incorporating innovative materials for improved performance. Nevertheless, challenges remain in achieving an optimal balance between comfort and protection. Firefighter hoods must not hinder movement or increase heat stress, and the process of donning and doffing must minimize contamination risks. Current standards primarily assess material properties but fail to address practical, real-world conditions and interactions with other PPE components. This review emphasizes that these knowledge gaps can only be closed through systematic performance evaluations that replicate actual firefighting scenarios and include both human trials and simu-lations. Future research should focus on refining hood designs and materials to enhance particulate filtration efficiency, improve ergonomic fit, and reduce complications associated with use. This will ensure that firefighter hoods offer comprehensive protection while maintaining high comfort levels in demanding environments.
Engineering, Safety, Risk, Reliability and Quality
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
