Remember that all-consuming celebrity murder trial from the 1990s where the defense attorney famously told the jury that if the glove “doesn’t fit, you must acquit” in reference to the glove used in the stabbings and the size of the defendant’s hands?
In the fire service, maybe that phrase should be, “If the glove (or any PPE) doesn’t fit, you must quit.”
OK, not many are going to walk off the job over gloves a size too big or too small. But seriously, PPE that doesn’t fit is a real danger to firefighter safety. And moreover, it is a threat to firefighter health.
But is it? Is ill-fitting PPE really guilty of harming firefighter health?
In the spirit of the Trial of the Century, we put an expert on the witness stand. No, not that “seen it all, knows it all” expert from the dayroom who’s riding out his time to retirement. But a proper expert, one who has a doctorate degree and has devoted her life’s work to firefighter PPE. That kind of an expert.
We call to the stand Dr. Meredith McQuerry.
McQuerry is the Carol E. Avery associate professor of textile science in the Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship at Florida State University. As the director of the ThermaNOLE Comfort Lab and Textile Testing Laboratory, she has overseen nearly $5 million in research funding related to firefighter PPE. Most recently, her work has centered around investigating the design, comfort and mobility issues of female firefighter PPE. This research helped produce the first and largest U.S. female firefighter anthropometric database. McQuerry has published more than 35 articles in leading journals, and her work has been presented at more than 100 conferences.
“Unfortunately, research hasn’t yet identified what the greatest threat is of wearing ill-fitting PPE,” she said. “But we do know there’s the potential for multiple types of hazardous exposure, including thermal, liquid, chemical, and particulate. Our team at FSU is working with other universities to propose work related to how ill-fitting PPE impacts female firefighter health and wellness outcomes, from cancer biomarkers and reproductive health to musculoskeletal injuries.”
In her opening remarks to the jury, Dr. Sara Jahnke, senior scientist with the Center for Fire, Rescue & EMS Health Research, said, “We definitely need more research.” She launched Science to the Station: A Health and Wellness Alliance, which is a platform to bring important firefighter health and wellness science to firefighters.
“We know the byproducts of fire can be absorbed through the skin,” Jahnke said. “We know the most vulnerable areas are where the different components of protective clothing meet — gloves and sleeves, coats and pants, pants and boots, collar and hood. And we know many firefighters have PPE that doesn’t fit.
“We know this problem more greatly affects female firefighters. But male firefighters’ bodies change over time — changes in eating, exercise and sleep habits, as well as stress levels, can alter one’s weight in either direction. And like a female firefighter going through pregnancy, these weight changes change PPE fit.”
The defense team looks nervous.
Beyond anecdotes of pants that stop at your shins or having to shove rolled-up socks into the toes of boots three sizes too big, just how much crime is being committed here? Is there a PPE fit issue and if so, how far and wide does it spread?
“Our research and many studies before it dating as far back as 1993 have consistently reported that 80% of women in the structural fire service experience issues with ill-fitting PPE,” McQuerry said. “This is compared to 20% for male firefighters (in a singular study that performed a sex-based comparison in 2008).”
OK, so that’s not nothing.
“There is certainly room for fit improvement across the board, but it is a critical need for female firefighters as they experience a 33% greater risk of injury, in part due to ill-fitting PPE. We also found 52% of wildland female firefighters experience issues with poor-fitting wildland shirts and pants. Given our large sample size and the 30-plus year consistent history across five separate studies, we are very confident that these statistics are accurate. In fact, it’s more likely they are underreported given the cultural environment of the fire service, which tends to make do versus voice complaints.”
Wouldn’t the simplest solution be to have more adjustable PPE? PPE where lengths and widths could be loosened and tightened as needed?
“These types of design modifications and features have been considered in the past and continue to be explored,” McQuerry said. “The first priority, however, is getting the right fit the first time. From there, I believe we can begin to address how that garment will accommodate the user over such a long period of time.”
In her closing arguments, Jahnke urged the jury – those in all fire service roles – to make PPE fit a priority.
“It doesn’t matter where you fall on the fire service food chain,” she said. “Even as more research is needed and conducted, we need to recognize this as a real threat to firefighter wellness. We need to make meaningful intellectual and financial commitments to ensuring all firefighters have protective gear that fits, and that we understand the health and safety risks when they don’t.”
The case against ill-fitting PPE’s negative effect on firefighter health and wellness may not yet hit the “beyond a shadow of a doubt” threshold. But the circumstantial evidence is compelling enough to look at it as… well… criminal.
