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Applicability of Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) in occupational heat stress assessment: a case study in brick industries
Authors:Javad VATANI  Farideh GOLBABAEI  Somayeh Farhang DEHGHAN  Azam YOUSEFI
Institution:1.Department of Occupational Health, School of Public Health, International Campus, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran;2.Department of Occupational Health, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran;3.Department of Medicinal Plants, School of Agriculture, University of Applied Science and Technology, Iran
Abstract:The present study aimed to investigate the applicability of Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) as an innovative and science-based index in public health researches, in occupational heat stress assessment. All indoor and outdoor workers (200 people) of Brick industries of Shahroud, Iran participated in the research. First, the environmental variables such as air temperature, wet-bulb temperature, globe temperature, air velocity and relative humidity were measured; then UTCI and WBGT (wet-bulb globe temperature) indices were calculated. Simultaneously, physiological parameters including systolic and diastolic blood pressure, oral temperature, skin temperature, tympanic temperature and heart rate of workers were measured. UTCI and WBGT indices were 34.2 ± 2°C, 21.8 ± 1.8°C in the outdoor environments and 38.1 ± 4.4°C, 24.7 ± 3.3°C at the indoor environments, respectively. There were the weak inverse relationships between UTCI and WBGT indices at the outdoor environments and physiological responses such as systolic blood pressure, and diastolic blood pressure. However, there were no similar results for indoor environments. The significant relationships were found between UTCI and WBGT at both indoor and outdoor environments. Both UTCI and WBGT indices are suitable for assessing the occupational heat stress. Although, UTCI index seems more appropriate for heat stress assessment in the environments with low humidity and air velocity.
Keywords:Heat stress  Physiological response  UTCI index  WBGT index
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