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Personal Protective Equipment

Personal Protective Equipment

Personal protective equipment (PPE) is unique clothing or equipment worn by an employee to minimize or prevent exposure to infectious agents. PPE creates a barrier between the employee and the infectious materials. PPE must be readily available in the patient care area. PPE includes gloves, gowns and aprons, masks and respirators, goggles, face shields, shoes, and headcovers:

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jan 14, 2026

Setup of Consumer Wearable Devices for Exposure and Health Monitoring in Population Studies

Setup of Consumer Wearable Devices for Exposure and Health Monitoring in Population Studies

Published on: February 3, 2023

Predicting Risk of Heat-Related Injuries for Individuals Wearing Personal Protective Equipment Using Smartwatches:

Meghan Hegarty-Craver¹, Donna Womack¹, Jonathan Thornburg¹

¹RTI International, Durham, NC, United States.

JMIR Formative Research

|October 17, 2025

Summary

Wearable sensors like smartwatches can monitor health while wearing personal protective equipment (PPE), helping prevent heat-related illness. This study found the Garmin Fenix 6 suitable for real-time health tracking during demanding activities.

Keywords:

PPE continuous monitoring heat strain heat-related illness personal protective equipment smartwatch temperature wearable

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Last Updated: Jan 14, 2026

Setup of Consumer Wearable Devices for Exposure and Health Monitoring in Population Studies

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An Application for Pairing with Wearable Devices to Monitor Personal Health Status

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Assessing the Accuracy of Fitness Smartwatch Data for Cardiovascular and Physical Activity Monitoring: A Validation Study in Digital Health

Assessing the Accuracy of Fitness Smartwatch Data for Cardiovascular and Physical Activity Monitoring: A Validation Study in Digital Health

Published on: February 21, 2025

Area of Science:

Occupational Health and Safety
Biomedical Engineering
Wearable Technology

Background:

Wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) increases heat-related illness risk, especially in hot, humid conditions.
Effective cooling strategies require timely application, which is challenging during hazardous work or with contaminated PPE.
Wearable sensors offer continuous health monitoring (heart rate, respiration, etc.) for proactive interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

Evaluate wearable sensors for real-time health monitoring in individuals wearing PPE to mitigate heat illness risk.
Assess the impact of PPE on smartwatch data quality and user comfort.
Identify limitations for smartwatch use by individuals wearing PPE.

Main Methods:

Participants wore Garmin Fenix 6 smartwatches during field training exercises involving Level C PPE and firefighter gear.
Data collection occurred before, during, and after activities simulating environmental cleanup and firefighter training.
Feasibility was assessed across different PPE types and training scenarios.

Main Results:

High wear compliance (83.8%-99.9%) was observed, with participants tolerating watches during PPE use without adverse events.
Heart rate data correlated with physical activity, indicating acceptable physiological monitoring.
Heart rate data artifact ranged from 5.8% to 9.3%, slightly higher in non-PPE wearers.

Conclusions:

The Garmin Fenix 6 smartwatch is suitable for continuous health monitoring of individuals wearing PPE.
The device demonstrates adequate data quality for monitoring heart rate and predicting core body temperature.
Extended wear is feasible, supporting its use in occupational health and safety applications.