Thermal stress, human performance, and physical employment standards.
Many physically demanding occupations in both developed and developing economies involve exposure to extreme thermal environments that can affect work capacity and ultimately health. Thermal extremes may be present in either an outdoor or an indoor work environment, and can be due to a combination of the natural or artificial ambient environment, the rate of metabolic heat generation from physical work, processes specific to the workplace (e.g., steel manufacturing), or through the requirement for protective clothing impairing heat dissipation. Together, thermal exposure can elicit acute impairment of work capacity and also chronic effects on health, greatly contributing to worker health risk and reduced productivity. Surprisingly, in most occupations even in developed economies, there are rarely any standards regarding enforced heat or cold safety for workers. Furthermore, specific physical employment standards or accommodations for thermal stressors are rare, with workers commonly tested under near-perfect conditions. This review surveys the major occupational impact of thermal extremes and existing employment standards, proposing guidelines for improvement and areas for future research.
a Environmental Ergonomics Laboratory, Department of Kinesiology, Brock University, 1812 Sir Isaac Brock Way, St. Catharines, ON L2S 3A1, Canada.
Stephen S
SS
Cheung
b Defence Medical and Environmental Research Institute, DSO National Laboratories, Singapore.|c Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore.|d Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
Jason K W
JK
Lee
e Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Physical Work Capacity team, Oulu, Finland.
Juha
J
Oksa
D000818:Animals; D003080:Cold Temperature; D004651:Employment / Q000592:standards*; D061388:Firefighters; D017408:Guidelines as Topic / Q000592:standards; D006358:Hot Temperature; D006801:Humans; D008889:Military Personnel; D000067572:Miners; D016272:Occupational Health / Q000592:standards*; D010809:Physical Fitness; D013312:Stress, Physiological; D017132:Workplace / Q000592:standards*
Heat stress; cold stress; occupational physiology; physiologie du travail; stress dû au froid; stress thermique; testing; travail; work; évaluation