TY - JOUR
T1 - Role of work uniform in alleviating perceptual strain among construction workers
AU - Yang, Yang
AU - Chan, Albert Ping Chuen
N1 - Funding Information:
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. The authors also wish to acknowledge the contributions of other team members including Prof Francis Wong, Dr Michael Yam, Dr Daniel Chan, Dr Edmond Lam, Dr Del Wong, Prof Y Li, Dr YP Guo, Dr WF Song, Dr W Yi, Prof Joanne Chung, Dr Esther Cheung, and Miss Y Zhao. This paper forms part of the research project entitled ?Anti-heat stress clothing for construction workers in hot and humid weather?, from which other deliverables will be produced with different objec-tives/scopes but sharing common background and methodology. This project is funded by the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (RGC Project No. PolyU5107/11E). The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health.
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - This study aims to examine the benefits of wearing a new construction work uniform in real-work settings. A field experiment with a randomized assignment of an intervention group to a newly designed uniform and a control group to a commercially available trade uniform was executed. A total of 568 sets of physical, physiological, perceptual, and microclimatological data were obtained. A linear mixed-effects model (LMM) was built to examine the cause-effect relationship between the Perceptual Strain Index (PeSI) and heat stressors including wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT), estimated workload (relative heart rate), exposure time, trade, workplace, and clothing type. An interaction effect between clothing and trade revealed that perceptual strain of workers across four trades was significantly alleviated by 1.6–6.3 units in the intervention group. Additionally, the results of a questionnaire survey on assessing the subjective sensations on the two uniforms indicated that wearing comfort was improved by 1.6–1.8 units when wearing the intervention type. This study not only provides convincing evidences on the benefits of wearing the newly designed work uniform in reducing perceptual strain but also heightens the value of the field experiment in heat stress intervention studies.
AB - This study aims to examine the benefits of wearing a new construction work uniform in real-work settings. A field experiment with a randomized assignment of an intervention group to a newly designed uniform and a control group to a commercially available trade uniform was executed. A total of 568 sets of physical, physiological, perceptual, and microclimatological data were obtained. A linear mixed-effects model (LMM) was built to examine the cause-effect relationship between the Perceptual Strain Index (PeSI) and heat stressors including wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT), estimated workload (relative heart rate), exposure time, trade, workplace, and clothing type. An interaction effect between clothing and trade revealed that perceptual strain of workers across four trades was significantly alleviated by 1.6–6.3 units in the intervention group. Additionally, the results of a questionnaire survey on assessing the subjective sensations on the two uniforms indicated that wearing comfort was improved by 1.6–1.8 units when wearing the intervention type. This study not only provides convincing evidences on the benefits of wearing the newly designed work uniform in reducing perceptual strain but also heightens the value of the field experiment in heat stress intervention studies.
KW - Construction workers
KW - Field experiment
KW - Intervention
KW - Linear mixed-effects model
KW - Perceptual strain index
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85011829451&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.2486/indhealth.2016-0023
DO - 10.2486/indhealth.2016-0023
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 27666953
SN - 0019-8366
VL - 55
SP - 76
EP - 86
JO - Industrial Health
JF - Industrial Health
IS - 1
ER -