New Design of Personal Protective Equipment for Handling Contagious Viruses: Evaluation of Comfort and Physiological Responses

Abstract

The use of personal protective equipment (PPE) for virus handling has the side effect of heat stress, which requires intervention to improve. This study aimed to evaluate the comfort of a newly designed PPE ensemble for virus handling. Three types of PPE ensembles were tested: reg-ular PPE as a control, PPE plus breathable cooling wear (cooling wear), and PPE plus a portable airflow cooling device (cooling device). Twelve participants simulated six activities, including physical activities, activities requiring concentration, and manual dexterity activities, for one hour. The microclimate conditions, perceived discomfort, and physiological responses were measured after each experimental activity. The results show that the use of cooling wear and a cooling device had a significant effect on the microclimate conditions, perceived comfort, and physiological responses of users, proving superior to the use of regular PPE. A cooling device can improve the microclimate more than cooling wear, thereby directly increasing perceived comfort and decreasing physiological responses. It can be concluded that the use of cooling wear and a cooling device effectively increases the comfort of wearing PPE. The cooling device is more suitable for use in tropical climates with hot and humid characteristics, so it is a better choice than cooling wear.