Citation

Heidari H, Golbabaei F, Shamsipour A, Rahimi Forushani A, Gaeini A. Int. J. Occup. Environ. Med. 2018; 9(1): 1-9.

Affiliation

Sport Physiology Department, School of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, NIOC Health Organization)

DOI

10.15171/ijoem.2017.1204

PMID

29319050

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Heat stress is common among workers in arid and semi-arid areas. In order to take every preventive measure to protect exposed workers against heat-related disorders, it is crucial to choose an appropriate index that accurately relates environmental parameters to physiological responses.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the consistency between 2 heat stress and strain indices, ie, sweat rate and wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT), for the assessment of heat stress of people working outdoor in arid and semi-arid regions in Iran.

METHODS: During spring and summer, 136 randomly selected outdoor workers were enrolled in this study. Using a defined protocol, the sweat rate of these workers was measured 3 times a day. Simultaneously, the environmental parameters including WBGT index were recorded for each working station.

RESULTS: The level of agreement between sweat rate and WBGT was poor (κ<0.2). Based on sweat rate, no case exceeding the reference value was observed during the study. WBGT overestimated the heat stress in outdoor workers compared to sweat rate.

CONCLUSION: It seems that the sweat rate standards may need some modifications related to real condition of work in arid and semi-arid regions in Iran. Moreover, it seems that judging workers solely based on monitoring their sweat rate in such regions, can probably result in underestimation of heat stress.

Language: en

Keywords

Climate; Heat stress disorders; Hot temperature; Humidity; Sweat