Classification of Critical Levels of CO Exposure of Firefigthers through Monitored Heart Rate

Abstract

Smoke inhalation poses a serious health threat to firefighters (FFs), with potential effects including respiratory and cardiac disorders. In this work, environmental and physiological data were collected from FFs, during experimental fires performed in 2015 and 2019. Extending a previous work, which allowed us to conclude that changes in heart rate (HR) were associated with alterations in the inhalation of carbon monoxide (CO), we performed a HR analysis according to different levels of CO exposure during firefighting based on data collected from three FFs. Based on HR collected and on CO occupational exposure standards (OES), we propose a classifier to identify CO exposure levels through the HR measured values. An ensemble of 100 bagged classification trees was used and the classification of CO levels obtained an overall accuracy of 91.9%. The classification can be performed in real-time and can be embedded in a decision fire-fighting support system. This classification of FF’ exposure to critical CO levels, through minimally-invasive monitored HR, opens the possibility to identify hazardous situations, preventing and avoiding possible severe problems in FF’ health due to inhaled pollutants. The obtained results also show the importance of future studies on the relevance and influence of the exposure and inhalation of pollutants on the FF’ health, especially in what refers to hazardous levels of toxic air pollutants.

Preventing and Monitoring Work-Related Diseases in Firefighters: A Literature Review on Sensor-Based Systems and Future Perspectives in Robotic Devices

“…The hazardous environments encountered during real fire activities limit the ability to easily test scenarios to improve safety and effectiveness of interventions or to decrease physiological strain [ 46 ]. Although most of the research on firefighters’ physiologic responses has been conducted in laboratories [ 48 , 65 , 67 , 68 , 71 ] and during simulated firefighting activities [ 4 , 25 , 36 , 46 , 49 , 51 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 62 , 72 , 73 , 74 , 75 , 76 , 80 , 81 , 82 ], few studies are present in literature during real firefighting operations [ 43 , 64 , 69 , 70 , 78 , 83 , 84 ].…”

“…Several studies [ 25 , 36 , 46 , 48 , 51 , 55 , 56 , 64 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 74 , 75 , 76 , 77 , 78 , 82 , 83 , 84 , 86 ] have used heart rate monitors to analyze different firefighter HR parameters such as average heart rate (HRavg), peak heart rate (HRPeak), maximum heart rate (HRmax), heart rate of recovery (HRR) and heart rate variability (HRV).…”

“…For all the above-mentioned reasons, several studies deal with the analysis of physiological variables [6, and physical parameters [88][89][90][91][92][93][94][95][96][97][98][99][100][101][102][103][104][105][106][107]. Sensor-based systems, such as portable metabolic systems, heart rate monitors, ingestible temperature pills and skin temperature patches for the physiological aspects [6,25,46,48,53,[55][56][57]71,74,78,81,84], as well optoelectronic systems, inertial sensors and pressure insoles for the physical ones [94][95][96][97][98]101,102,108,109] have shown their potential mainly due to the possibility to measure several variables without influencing the FF working procedures. Moreover, the latest progress in the robotic field has opened the possibility to use robotic devices to help prevent worker fatigue and work-related musculo-skeletal disorders in manufacturing settings.…”

“…For all the above-mentioned reasons, several studies deal with the analysis of physiological variables [ 6 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 , 74 , 75 , 76 , 77 , 78 , 79 , 80 , 81 , 82 , 83 , 84 , 85 , 86 , 87 ] and physical parameters [ 88 , 89 , 90 , 91 ,…”

Data, Signal and Image Processing and Applications in Sensors

“…Sebastião et al [ 28 ] collected environmental and physiological data from firefighters (FF) to perform a heart rate (HR) analysis according to different levels of carbon monoxide (CO) exposure during firefighting. Then, based on the collected HR and on CO occupational exposure standards (OES), they presented a classifier to identify CO exposure levels through the HR measured values.…”