UNLABELLED BACKGROUND To prevent surgical site infection it is desirable to keep bacterial counts low in the operating room air during orthopaedic surgery, especially prosthetic surgery. As the air-borne bacteria are mainly derived from the skin flora of the personnel present in the operating room a reduction could be achieved by using a clothing system for staff made from a material fulfill...

Clothing is often made of materials that impede the flow of heat and moisture from the skin to the environment. Consequently, people may suffer from heat stress or cold stress when wearing clothing in different environmental conditions. Therefore it is important to quantify the thermal resistance and evaporative resistance of clothing materials and to consider these properties when selecting ma...

OBJECTIVE To compile current regulations and advisory recommendations on cleanliness of worker clothing and personal protective equipment and to evaluate the adequacy of criteria for determining whether cleanliness has been achieved. METHODS Systematic review of information provided by federal agencies (eg, OSHA, MSHA, and NIOSH), nongovernmental advisory bodies (eg, ACGIH, AIHA, and ANSI), a...

Ten men (non-firefighters) completed a 110 min walking/recovery protocol (three 20-min exercise bouts, with recovery periods of 10, 20, and 20 min following successive bouts) in a thermoneutral laboratory while wearing firefighting personal protective equipment over one of four base layers: cotton, modacrylic, wool, and phase change material. There were no significant differences in changes in ...

Highland Hmong farmers in Thailand have abandoned shifting cultivation of subsistence crops and turned to chemical-intensive cultivation of non-narcotic permanent field cash crops. Three highland communities and Hmong in urban Chiang Mai were studied. Most rural study participants applied chemicals, primarily to control insects, weeds, and fungus, by backpack and machine sprays and by hand. Hmo...

This study addresses the individual decontamination of chemical warfare agents (CWA) and other hazardous substances. The individual decontamination applies to contaminated body surfaces, protective clothing and objects immediately after contamination, performed individually or by mutual assistance using prescribed or improvised devices. The article evaluates the importance of individual deconta...

The firefighter’s personal protective apparel is the most significant aspect of profession since it protects practically entire body firefighter. Protective clothing must not only provide protection during firefighting, but also against other environmental effects. purpose article for authors to propose possible directions development along with a description material and ergonomic characterist...

Reported cases of allergic contact dermatitis caused by methylenediphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) have increased and thereby increased the need for adequate skin protection. Current standardized permeation and penetration test methods give information about efficacy of protective materials against individual components of the polyurethane systems. They do not give information of what kind of clothin...