TY - JOUR
T1 - Practical on-site measurement of heat strain with the use of a perceptual strain index
AU - Chan, Albert P.C.
AU - Yang, Y.
N1 - Funding Information:
This project is funded by a Grant from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (RGC Project No. PolyU5107/11E). The research team is indebted to the technical support from technicians of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. In particular, the participation of volunteers in this study is gratefully acknowledged. This paper forms part of the research project titled “Anti-heat stress clothing for construction workers in hot and humid weather”, from which other deliverables will be produced with different objectives/scopes but sharing common background and methodology. The authors also wish to acknowledge the contributions to other team members including Prof. Francis Wong, Dr. Michael Yam, Dr. Daniel Chan, Dr. Edmond Lam, Dr. Del Wong, Prof. Li Yi, Dr. YP Guo, Dr. WF Song, Dr. W Yi, Dr. Esther Cheung, and Prof. Joanne Chung.
Funding Information:
This project is funded by a Grant from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (RGC Project No. PolyU5107/11E). The research team is indebted to the technical support from technicians of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. In particular, the participation of volunteers in this study is gratefully acknowledged. This paper forms part of the research project titled "Anti-heat stress clothing for construction workers in hot and humid weather", from which other deliverables will be produced with different objectives/scopes but sharing common background and methodology. The authors also wish to acknowledge the contributions to other team members including Prof. Francis Wong, Dr. Michael Yam, Dr. Daniel Chan, Dr. Edmond Lam, Dr. Del Wong, Prof. Li Yi, Dr. YP Guo, Dr. WF Song, Dr. W Yi, Dr. Esther Cheung, and Prof. Joanne Chung. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.
PY - 2016/2/1
Y1 - 2016/2/1
N2 - Objectives: There have been increased interests in research on quantifying heat strain of construction workers and formulating corresponding guidelines for working in hot weather. The aim of this study was to validate a subjective measurement tool, the perceptual strain index (PeSI), for measuring heat strain in real-work settings. Methods: A total of sixteen construction workers were invited to participate in the field surveys. Empiric-based human monitoring was carried out with simultaneous micrometeorological (wet-bulb globe temperature, WBGT), physiological (heart rate, HR), and perceptual (perceived exertion, RPE; thermal sensation, TS) measurements throughout the test. The relative heart rate (RHR), the physiological strain index (PSIHR), and the PeSI were then calculated accordingly. Results: The PeSI exhibited moderate correlations with WBGT and RHR (r = 0.42 and 0.40, respectively), which indicated the PeSI was sensitive to the variants of WBGT and RHR. The results of regression analysis indicated that the PeSI changed in the same general manner as the PSIHR, with a relatively large determination coefficient (R2 = 0.67). The established perceptual strain zone illustrated that the PeSI ranging from 7 to 8 would be the exposure limit of construction workers in hot weather. Conclusion: The PeSI is a simple, robust, reliable, and user-friendly tool for heat strain assessment in occupational settings. The perceptual strain zone will provide practical guidelines for on-site heat strain monitoring for construction workers.
AB - Objectives: There have been increased interests in research on quantifying heat strain of construction workers and formulating corresponding guidelines for working in hot weather. The aim of this study was to validate a subjective measurement tool, the perceptual strain index (PeSI), for measuring heat strain in real-work settings. Methods: A total of sixteen construction workers were invited to participate in the field surveys. Empiric-based human monitoring was carried out with simultaneous micrometeorological (wet-bulb globe temperature, WBGT), physiological (heart rate, HR), and perceptual (perceived exertion, RPE; thermal sensation, TS) measurements throughout the test. The relative heart rate (RHR), the physiological strain index (PSIHR), and the PeSI were then calculated accordingly. Results: The PeSI exhibited moderate correlations with WBGT and RHR (r = 0.42 and 0.40, respectively), which indicated the PeSI was sensitive to the variants of WBGT and RHR. The results of regression analysis indicated that the PeSI changed in the same general manner as the PSIHR, with a relatively large determination coefficient (R2 = 0.67). The established perceptual strain zone illustrated that the PeSI ranging from 7 to 8 would be the exposure limit of construction workers in hot weather. Conclusion: The PeSI is a simple, robust, reliable, and user-friendly tool for heat strain assessment in occupational settings. The perceptual strain zone will provide practical guidelines for on-site heat strain monitoring for construction workers.
KW - Construction workers
KW - Heat stress
KW - Perceptual strain
KW - Physiological strain
KW - Stressors
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84955634073&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s00420-015-1073-7
DO - 10.1007/s00420-015-1073-7
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 26139094
SN - 0340-0131
VL - 89
SP - 299
EP - 306
JO - International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health
JF - International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health
IS - 2
ER -
