Physiological effects of a modification of the construction of impermeable protective clothing.

This study was conducted to improve the construction of impermeable clothing protecting against liquid chemical agents in order to lower the thermal strain caused by the clothing during work. Previous studies indicated that light work in a hot environment in this kind of clothing could last 30 min only. We propose a modification of the construction; new models of protective clothing were tested in wear trials. Then the results were compared with a basic model of impermeable protective clothing. Results indicated that all new models of protective clothing allowed workers to work 39-64% longer than in a basic model of protective clothing. Thus new clothing significantly improved comfort of work in impermeable protective clothing because of the lower thermal strain that it imposed on the user.