The fire service has been struggling with the issue of seatbelt use in fire apparatus for several years. Departments have attempted to convince firefighters to use the seatbelts that have been provided for every recognized seating position on every new fire-service vehicle produced since the 1980s. It is difficult to find a vehicle in service today that was not delivered with an approved seat and seatbelt for every firefighter, inside a fully enclosed cab.

Yet, while we almost totally have eliminated the dangerous practices of riding on tailboards and running boards, and standing in exposed positions, we continue to look for a solution to the problem of unfastened seatbelts. Although some fire departments proudly report full compliance with mandatory seatbelt-use policies, many others admit to compliance rates of 50% or less.

There is very little rational disagreement with the wisdom of wearing seatbelts whenever a vehicle is in motion. Many firefighters who would never think of getting behind the wheel of a personal vehicle without fastening their seatbelts — and certainly would not permit their children to ride unsecured — nevertheless are capable of rationalizing the non-use of the seatbelts in fire apparatus. Various campaigns have appealed to the fundamental-logic and personal-responsibility aspects of seatbelt use, and real progress has been made through efforts such as the Seat Belt Pledge that was initiated by Dr. Burton Clark at the National Fire Academy.

From a fire chief’s perspective, it is virtually impossible to deny the organizational responsibility for seatbelt use. Indeed, it is difficult to find a fire department that does not have a written mandatory seatbelt-use policy somewhere in the archives. Whether that policy is truly enforced is another question. In fire departments where the policy is both promoted and actively enforced, compliance rates are high. Meanwhile, other organizations seem to be satisfied that the policy has been officially adopted and filed — and appear to be oblivious to the fact that it is widely disregarded.

Most of the discussion of seatbelts begins with the assumption that a seatbelt has been provided for every firefighter and the only challenge is to either convince or require the firefighter to use it. A parallel issue was recognized several years ago — the actual functionality and user friendliness of the seatbelts that are installed in many vehicles. When asked why they did not use their belts, a significant number of firefighters pointed out that they simply could not reach, manipulate or fasten the belts that were provided for them. This basic reality prompted an examination of the technological aspects of the seatbelt problem.

Understand the Users

The technology effort has been spearheaded by the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation under the umbrella of the Firefighter Life-Safety Initiatives program. The first phase involved working with the safety task force of the National Fire Protection Association’s fire apparatus committee and the International Association of Fire Chiefs’ Safety, Health and Survival Section, in order to determine the necessary length of the belts installed in new apparatus. This was to ensure that the belts are long enough to reach around a firefighter who is wearing full protective equipment, which required an analysis of the actual dimensions of firefighters. Part of the challenge was to identify the full range of body sizes that must be accommodated, from the largest to the smallest.

Through the NFFF, the project team reached out to Total Contact Inc., a biomedical firm headquartered in Germantown, Ohio, that specializes in precision measurement of human bodies — the scientific discipline of anthropometry. Total Contact had developed expertise in the 3D laser scanning of burn victims’ faces in order to produce precision-fitted masks to aid in the healing process. The same technology was adapted to make use of a full-body scanner that had been developed for the U.S. Air Force to design cockpits and accessories around the bodies of fighter pilots. With funding provided by the National Institute of Standards and Technology as well as a FIRE Act grant, a pilot project was conducted to scan and measure 120 firefighters, with and without their protective clothing. The subjects were recruited to represent a wide range of active firefighters, including large and small, tall and short, male and female, as well as racially and ethnically diverse.

The data produced by the preliminary study, which was conducted in 2009, indicated that some of the basic dimensions that are incorporated in NFPA 1901 do not provide sufficient room for many firefighters to simply fit into the seating space that is available for them. The data also confirmed that a significant proportion of the firefighter population would have difficulty reaching and fasten their seatbelts while wearing protective clothing. The reThe results of the preliminary study have been shared with the NFPA committee and the full data set is available from NFFF.

As the preliminary study was being completed, the project team learned that the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health is particularly interested in the relationship between worker safety and the data that can be derived from anthropometrics and ergonomics. Though analytical projects already had been conducted for over-the-road truck drivers and farm-tractor operators, NIOSH has a very particular interest in firefighters, as evidenced by the Firefighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention program.

Working with NIOSH, a multiphase project was designed to measure and scan a much larger, statistically validated sample of firefighters and to expand the objectives to look at the full range of body dimensions that could have an impact on firefighter health and safety, including the fit of breathing-apparatus face pieces, as well as gloves, boots, helmets and protective clothing. In addition, a comprehensive analysis of apparatus-design considerations would be conducted.

The proposed project gained the support of the IAFC, IAFF, NFPA and the Fire Apparatus Manufacturers Association, as well as several smaller organizations. One of the particularly enthusiastic supporters has been Women in the Fire Service, as part of the effort to ensure that the needs of its members are addressed.

Understand the Environment

The first phase of the NIOSH-funded project involved measuring more than 900 firefighters from four different geographic areas. This component was completed during 2010, with the field-measurement sites hosted by the fire departments in Philadelphia; Fort Worth, Texas; Phoenix; and Montgomery County, Md. Each of these departments was extremely cooperative in not only providing the space for the work to be conducted, but also in helping to select and schedule a range of subjects who would agree to be measured and who would fit a complex profile of demographic characteristics, in order to meet the objective of a fully representative and statistically validated sample of the fire-service population.

The data from Phase 1 currently is being analyzed by NIOSH to identify a smaller number of the same individuals who will be invited to participate in an even more comprehensive analysis of their physical characteristics during 2011. At the same time, NIOSH is inviting organizations from the private sector, especially apparatus and equipment manufacturers, to become partners in the project and to identify particular measurements that would be important to them. The second phase will include a mock-up of a fire-apparatus cab, which will allow measurements to be taken in relation to the actual environment where firefighters must be accommodated.

A second initiative of the seatbelt project also began to produce results during 2010. While the NIOSH-sponsored effort is expected to have an impact on the design of future fire apparatus and protective clothing, the problem of existing apparatus with dysfunctional seatbelts requires immediate attention. Working with seatbelt-system designers, several prototypes for retrofit packages have been developed and the hardware currently is being field-tested in a small number of vehicles. Initial user reactions appear to be positive, as several previous non-users now are using the seat belts in the retrofitted vehicles.

The prototypes that have been developed up to now had to be custom-fitted to particular vehicles and even to individual seating positions within those vehicles. The objective is to produce a variety of easily installed retrofit kits that will work with common seating configurations, and to keep the cost within an affordable range for most fire departments.

The retrofit systems address the fundamental problems that were reported by users, including making both the male and female ends easier to reach and easier to manipulate while wearing gloves. Retractors will be enhanced to ensure that the belts will retract quickly and fully when they are released, reducing the potential for snagging the user or becoming entangled with the Nader pin in the open doorway. Fire departments also will be encouraged to replace existing black or red belts with bright orange ones to make them more visible and conspicuous.

Custom-seat manufacturers also have expressed an interest in developing retrofit solutions that will accomplish the same objectives with the increasingly popular seats that incorporate integrated seatbelt systems. A much wider range of existing apparatus will be able to be retrofitted if this effort is successful.

Author's note: Particular recognition must be directed toward Lt. Mike Wilbur of the FDNY, who has made this project a personal crusade, as well as Jen Whitestone, the biomedical engineer who not only figured out how to connect all of the dots to find the answers, but also knew how to compile the dots. Everyone involved is dedicated to the goal of the NFFF's 16 Life-Safety Initiatives and to keep reducing the number of lives that are lost each year.

J. Gordon Routley is fire-protection engineer and currently serves as a division chief with the Montreal Fire Department. He was directly involved in the development of the 16 Life-Safety Initiatives program and continues to be involved as a technology resource for the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation.

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