Psychological and performance effects of chemical-biological protective clothing and equipment

Abstract

Civilian emergency response personnel who assist at chemical or biological disaster scenes are likely to be novices at functioning in chemical-biological (C-B) protective clothing (CBC) meant for use on contaminated battlefields. Such teams must be aware that CBC imposes numerous physiological, psycho-physiological, and biomechanical effects on performance, and significant declines in individual and group performance effectiveness can be anticipated. Cumbersome protective suits, gas masks, rubber gloves, and protective overboots worn to clean up chemical spills or to respond to terrorist use of weapons of mass disruption, produce performance slow-downs requiring up to 30% more time to accomplish tasks, compromise communications, and raise the risk of dehydration, heat injuries, and other environmental and psychological stresses that impinge upon task completion. First-response workers who will wear cumbersome CBC need realistic, confidence-building, mission-related training in the C-B uniforms, clothing, and equipment available to them.