Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Eight laboratories participated in a concerted research project on the assessment of hot working conditions. The objectives were to:

Co-ordinate the work of the main European research teams in the field of thermal factors

Improve the methods available to assess the risks of heat disorders at the workplace, and in particular the ISO standard 7933.

Better define the criteria for the maximum exposure duration, considering interindividual differences in sweating rate, water loss and core temperature increase.

Design and validate an assessment strategy for practitioners to determine maximum exposure durations and optimise the working environment.

The revised model, called “Predicted Heat Strain” proved to predict much better than the previous Required Sweat Rate model the maximum allowable exposure duration to avoid dehydration and/or core temperature increase.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Alber

Holmér

(1994) Sweating efficiency of unacclimatized women and men working in hot, humid environments. In: Frim

Ducharme

M.B.

Tickuisis

Proceedings of the Sixth Int. Conference on Envir. Ergon., Montebello, Canada, September 25–30.

Araki

Inoue

Fujiwara

(1979) Experimental studies on sweating for exercise prescription: total body sweat rate in relation to work load in physically trained adult males. Journal of Human Ergology, 8, 91–99.

Candas

Libert

J.P.

Brandenberger

(1985) Hydration during exercise - Effects on thermal and cardiovascular adjustments. European Journal of Applied Physiology 55, 2, 113–122.

Colin

Timbal

Houdas

Boutelier

Guieu

(1971) Computation of mean body temperature from rectal and skin temperatures. Journal of Applied Physiology, 31, 3, 484–489*,.

Edwards

R.J.

Belyavin

A.J.

Harrison

M.H.

(1978) Core temperature measurement in man. Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine, November, 1289–1294.

Gosselin

R.E.

(1947) Rates of sweating in the desert. In: Adolph

E.F.

Physiology of man in the desert. Interscience Publishers, New York, p. 44.

Havenith

(1997) Individual heat stress response. Proefschrift ter verkrijging Van de graad Van Doctor, Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen.

Havenith

Holmér

Den Hartog

E.A.

Parsons

K.C.

(1999) Clothing evaporative heat resistance. Proposal for improved representation in standards and models. The Annals of Occupational Hygiene (in press).

Hettinger

Th.

Eissing

Herttinger Steinhaus

(1985) Belastung und Beanspruchung durch das Tragen persönlicher schutzausrüstungen, BAU (Hrsg.), Forschungsbericht Nr. 392, Wirtschaftsverlag NW, Bremerhaven.

10.

Holmér

Nilsson

Havenith

Parsons

K C

(1998) Convective heat loss through clothing. In Environmental Ergonomics, ICEE, Heaney

Hodgdon

, San Diego.

11.

ISO 7933, Hot environments - Analytical determination and interpretation of thermal stress using calculation of required sweat rates. Revised proposal.

12.

ISO 9920 (1995) Ergonomics of the thermal environment - Estimation of the thermal insulation and evaporative resistance of a clothing ensemble. International Organisation for Standardisation, Geneva.

13.

Kähkönen

(1993) Comparison and error analysis of instrumentation and methods for assessment of neutral and hot environment on the basis of ISO standards. Kuopio University Publications, Kuopio, Finland, pp. 101.

14.

Kampmann

(1997a) Working paper GT2/13 of BIOMED project BMH4-CT96–0648 “HEAT”: Risk analysis for one colliery of Ruhrkohle AG in 1995.

15.

Kampmann

(1997b) Working paper GT2/12 of BIOMED project BMH4-CT96–0648 “HEAT”: Rehydration in field experiments and laboratory investigations.

16.

Kohler

(1976) Physiologische Reaktionen in Bereich der Hitzetoleranzgrenze bei einer ruhenden Versuchsperson (Physiological reactions in resting test subjects at the limit of their heat tolerance). Dissertation.

17.

Livingstone

S.D.

Nolan

R.W.

Cain

J.B.

, et al. (1994) Effect of working in hot environments on respiratory air temperatures. European Journal of Applied Physiology 69, 98–101.

18.

Malchaire

(1991) Predicted sweat rate in fluctuating thermal conditions. Eur. J. Appl. Physiol. 63, 282–287.

19.

Malchaire

(1999) Evaluation and control of warm working conditions. Proceedings of the BIOMED “Heat Stress” Conference, Barcelona, June 14–15.

20.

Malchaire

Gebhardt

H.J.

Piette

(1999) Strategy for evaluation And prevention of risk due to work in thermal environment. The Annals of Occupational Hygiene 43, 5: 367–376.

21.

Malchaire

Kampmann

Havenith

Mehnert

Gebhardt

HJ.

(2000) Criteria for estimating acceptable exposure times in hot working environments: a review. Int. Arch. Occup. Environ. Health, in press.

22.

Mehnert

Malchaire

Kampmann

Piette

Griefahn

Gebhardt

H.J.

Prediction of the average skin temperature in warm and hot environments. European Journal of Applied Physiology (to be publioshed).

23.

Saltin

Hermansen

(1966) Esophageal, rectal, and muscle temperature during exercise. J. Appl. Physiol. 21, 6, 1757–1762.

24.

Varene

(1986) Computation of respiratory heat exchanges. J. Appl. Physiol. 61, 4, 1586–1589.

25.

Wyndham

C.H.

Strydom

N.B.

Morrison

J.F.

Williams

C.G.

Bredell

G.A.G.

Maritz

J.S.

Munro

(1965) Criteria for physiological limits for work in heat. Journal of Applied Physiology 20, 1, 37–45.

26.

Wyndham

C.H.

Heyns

A.J.

(1973) The probability of heat stroke developing at different levels of heat stress. Arch. Sci. Physiol. 27, A 545–562.

27.

WHO Scientific Group. 1969. Health factors involved in working under conditions of heat stress. Tech. Rep. series No. 412. WHO, Geneva.

28.

Zintl

(1979) Physiologische Reaktionen im Bereich der Hitzetoleranzgrenze vor und nach Hitzeakklimation bei einer ruhenden Versuchsperson (Physiological reactions in resting test subjects at the limit of their heat tolerance before and after acclimatization to heat). Dissertation.

Assessment of the Risks of Heat Disorders Encountered during Work in Hot Conditions

Abstract

Get full access to this article

References