4. Conclusions
4.1. Summary
This study was designed to test the following hypotheses:
1. Level A suits degrade human task performance in terms of time
and accuracy when compared to no suit
2. Time-in-suit has a negative impact on human task performance
in terms of time and accuracy
Hypothesis 1 was confirmed from the results of the t-test. The
effect of the Level A suit on human performance is statistically
significant when compared to no suit, with p values of 0.02 for
completion time and 0.03 for accuracy. When in the suit, increases
in completion times up to 103% were observed. The results indicate
that even trained members of the Civil Support Team may take up
to double the time to complete tasks while in the suit. The decrease
in accuracy, although substantial, was less profound. The suit was
seen to have a definite effect on tasks testing gross motor dexterity.
From the task-wise t-tests, it was found that statistically significant
performance decrements were found in the cases of gross motor
tasks, but not always in the cases of fine motor tasks.
Hypothesis 2 was not supported by the results obtained.
Contrary to prior belief, degradation in task performance as timein-
suit increased was not found. One plausible explanation for
the lack of correlation between time-in-suit and performance
might be a limitation of the study and its inability to capture the
real-world scenario and effect of the suit. Another possible reason
could be the unrealistic nature of the controlled environment and
conditions. Being in an actual crisis situation might entail one or