Research Symposium

BIO

My name is Loriz Arencibia and I am a freshman at FSU. I am interested in both social entrepreneurship and the impact that television has on American culture.

Using Thermal Cooling to Fight Heat Stress in the Construction Industry

Abstract

Due to the taxing nature of construction workers’ work, they are 13 times more likely to die from a heat-related illness in the United States (Acharya, P. et al., 2018). Therefore, the purpose of this research was to test different cooling garments on their effectiveness in preventing heat exhaustion in construction workers. Four proprietary t-shirts with different cooling technologies and two vests with active cooling pack techniques were used to determine optimal thermal comfort for construction workers in the ThermaNOLE Comfort Lab®. The researcher collected physiological responses such as the skin temperature (TSK), internal core temperature (THY), sweat rate (SWA), temperature sensation, and comfort perceptions when wearing the cooling garments. A sweating thermal mannequin was used to replicate the metabolic work rate of construction employees. Data was analyzed using one-way ANOVAs followed by individual two-sample T-tests to determine if significant differences were present between the clothing ensembles tested. Findings indicate that cooling technologies are effective in construction work apparel. Future research should continue to explore how cooling garments affect workers completing strenuous outdoor work.

Keywords: construction workers, heat stress, cooling apparel