The effects of individual protective equipmment on work performance
The effects of individual protective equipmment on work performance
The first phase of this work investigated some of the regulatory systems that could be involved in the voluntary termination of exercise; the effect of wearing a respirator on resting respiratory parameters was also quantified. The second phase of the work investigated the effect on physical performance of novel military pharmacological countermeasures to chemical agents and the side effects of nuclear radiation. The third phase investigated the contribution of the respirator to the overall performance decrement, assessed if respiratory training aided performance in IPE, examined the predictive value of psychological tests and, finally, examined the relationship between self-assessment of physical work performance and measurable physiological indicators.
The results showed that the protective equipment caused an average decrease of approximately 20% in the time that work could be performed and that there are no physiological parameters that are obviously related to the voluntary termination of exercise. However, wearing just the respirator caused a significant performance decrement that was 68% of that measured in the whole protective ensemble. Special training in the use of respiratory devices did not enhance ability to work in protective equipment. Self-rating of performance was generally accurate, but could not be readily related to physiological measurements. The proposed pharmacological countermeasures to chemical agents and the side effects of nuclear radiation did not have any effect on work performance. However, hyoscine, used as a verum treatment, showed a small hypothermic effect. The best predictor of future performance in IPE was provided by a psychological assessment test for extraversion and neuroticism (Eysenck and Eysenck, 1964).
University of Southampton
1996
Cook, Jill Melanie
(1996)
The effects of individual protective equipmment on work performance.
University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis.
Record type:
Thesis
(Doctoral)
Abstract
The first phase of this work investigated some of the regulatory systems that could be involved in the voluntary termination of exercise; the effect of wearing a respirator on resting respiratory parameters was also quantified. The second phase of the work investigated the effect on physical performance of novel military pharmacological countermeasures to chemical agents and the side effects of nuclear radiation. The third phase investigated the contribution of the respirator to the overall performance decrement, assessed if respiratory training aided performance in IPE, examined the predictive value of psychological tests and, finally, examined the relationship between self-assessment of physical work performance and measurable physiological indicators.
The results showed that the protective equipment caused an average decrease of approximately 20% in the time that work could be performed and that there are no physiological parameters that are obviously related to the voluntary termination of exercise. However, wearing just the respirator caused a significant performance decrement that was 68% of that measured in the whole protective ensemble. Special training in the use of respiratory devices did not enhance ability to work in protective equipment. Self-rating of performance was generally accurate, but could not be readily related to physiological measurements. The proposed pharmacological countermeasures to chemical agents and the side effects of nuclear radiation did not have any effect on work performance. However, hyoscine, used as a verum treatment, showed a small hypothermic effect. The best predictor of future performance in IPE was provided by a psychological assessment test for extraversion and neuroticism (Eysenck and Eysenck, 1964).
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Published date: 1996
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Local EPrints ID: 459983
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/459983
PURE UUID: 48907979-3638-4d3e-8cb6-d1e85abe34f7
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Date deposited: 04 Jul 2022 17:32
Last modified: 04 Jul 2022 17:32
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Author:
Jill Melanie Cook
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