Iranian Journal of Health, Safety and Environment (Sep 2014)
Thermal, physiological strain index and perceptual responses in Iranian Muslim women under Thermal Condition in order to Guide in Prevention of Heat Stress
Abstract
Heat stress risk assessment, as a harmful agent at workplace, is essential for controlling heat strain. The purpose of this study was relation between physiological and perceptual heat strain responses in Iranian veiled women under laboratory thermal conditions. This experimental study was carried out on 36 healthy females (age 22.3 ± 2.0 yr, height 162.76±5. 57cm, weight 55.82 ± 9.27kg) in sitting state under thermal conditions (27 - 38° C) in the hot-dry climatic condition for 120 min. In order to calculate the physiological strain index (PSI), oral temperature and heart rate were measured every 5 min. Physiological factors, and Heat Strain Score Index (HSSI) questionnaires are simultaneous measurements taken at any 5 min during the exposure and physiological factors, and Heat Strain Score Index (HSSI) questionnaires are the initial measurements. The data were analyzed using correlation and line regression by test spss16. The results showed that the average heart rate and oral temperature at resting and sitting were between 83.06 ±9.41bpm, 87.91 ±7.87 bpm and 36.7° C, 37. 1° C respectively. Also, the results have revealed a direct and significant and direct correlation among HSSI with WBGT (R2 = 0.97, P< 0.001), PSI (R2 = 0.96, P< 0.001), oral temperature (R2 = 0.96, P< 0.001) and heart rate (R2 = 0.62, P< 0.01) indices. The results have shown that simultaneously with the increase in valid indices of heat stress evaluation such as WBGT and PSI indices, the amount of HSSI index has also increased with high power. Therefore, it can be conclude that when there is no access to a reliable heat stress method such as WBGT or PSI indices, HSSI index, an objective and subjective heat strain method, can be used as a simple, fast and inexpensive method for evaluating the heat strain in women.
