Title:	MOSES HEALTH MONITORING SYSTEM FOR FIREFIGHTERS
Author(s):	Tatiana S. Goering-Zaburnenko, Hilco Prins and Etto L. Salomons
ISBN:	978-989-8533-85-2
Editors:	Piet Kommers, Pascal Ravesteijn, Guido Ongena and Pedro Isaías
Year:	2019
Edition:	Single
Keywords:	Core Temperature, Heat Stress, Exhaustion, Firefighters
Type:	Full Paper
First Page:	73
Last Page:	80
Language:	English
Cover:
Full Contents:	click to dowload
Paper Abstract:	When firefighting, the combination of exposition to high temperatures, high physical demands and wearing (heavy and insulated) personal protective equipment lead to increased risk of heat stress and exhaustion in firefighters. Heat stress can easily evolve into a life-threatening heat stroke. Once heat stress occurred, the chance of getting another heat stroke during deployment gets higher. Moreover, intermittent exposure to heat stress over several years, is a risk factor for heart diseases. Similarly, exhausted during a deployment, a firefighter needs more time to rehabilitate before he can safely be deployed again. Heat stress and exhaustion can lead to line-of-duty cardiovascular events. Therefore, preventing heat stress and exhaustion during deployment is beneficial for health, functioning and employability of firefighters. Since currently available measurement of the core temperature, such as thermometer pill or neck patch thermometer, are not reliable or practical for firefighters, an alternative approach may be used, namely, estimation of the core temperature based on non-invasive observation of the heart rate. Exhaustion is estimated using the training impulse model based on the heart rate reserve. Our achievement is a MoSeS health monitor system (as a smartphone application) that can real time analyze the health status of a firefighter and predict exhaustion and heat stress during deployment. The system is cheap (only a heart rate sensor and a smartphone application is needed), easy to use (intuitive “traffic light” signal), and objective (the health status is determined based on measurements of the heart rate). The only restriction is that the developed model is strongly dependent on personal maximum and minimum heart rate which need to be established beforehand.
	Go Back