@article{ref1,
title="Consistency between sweat rate and wet bulb globe temperature for the assessment of heat stress of people working outdoor in arid and semi-arid regions",
journal="International journal of occupational and environmental medicine",
year="2018",
author="Heidari, Hamidreza and Golbabaei, Farideh and Shamsipour, Aliakbar and Rahimi Forushani, Abbas and Gaeini, Abbasali",
volume="9",
number="1",
pages="1-9",
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. <br><br>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. <br><br>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. <br><br>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. <br><br>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.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="2008-6520",
doi="10.15171/ijoem.2017.1204",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.15171/ijoem.2017.1204"
}