Affiliations: School of Kinesiology and Health Studies, Queen's
University, Kingston, ON, Canada
Note: [] Corresponding author: Joan M. Stevenson, School of Kinesiology
and Health Studies, Queen's University, 28 Division Street, Kingston, ON, K7L
3N6, Canada. Tel.: +1 613 533 6288; Fax: +1 613 533 2009; E-mail:
joan.stevenson@queensu.ca
Abstract: BACKGROUND: The Mark 3 (M3) water power pump is an integral piece of
wildfire fighting equipment. However, it is provided to fire stations without a
carrying harness. The currently-used carrying harness is very uncomfortable,
especially when carrying the pumps considerable distance in a forest to reach a
water source. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to advise the Ontario
Ministry of Natural Resources on the selection of a new M3 load carriage
system. PARTICIPANTS: Twenty Fire Rangers wore the three systems (Original,
Prototype, and Modified) through a circuit of tasks representative of their
working environment. METHODS: Subjective and objective approaches were combined to assess
and rank the M3 carriage systems. Subjective visual analogue scale ratings were
obtained for ease of loading/unloading, comfort, system stability, and overall
performance. Tri-axial accelerometers were mounted on each pump and at the
sternum of each participant to determine relative pump-carrier accelerations.
RESULTS: Overall, the Prototype was ranked as the best system; it
resulted in the lowest relative pump-carrier accelerations on 10 out of 15
objective measures, and also received a first place ranking on all subjective
measures. CONCLUSION: It was recommended that the Prototype be implemented as
the M3 carriage system for fire suppression teams.
Keywords: Load carriage, ergonomics, fire fighting equipment, performance assessment, accelerometry
