Toward an Understanding of Heat Stress & Strain on Roofing Technicians

9 pages•Published: May 26, 2024

Abstract

There is an escalating threat of heat stress exposure by all and those at a disproportionate risk are construction workers. Beyond this, roofers as a subset of those workers are second when it comes to the risk of heat-related deaths, but there are not many studies that specifically focus on the need to protect roofers. That is why it is imperative to further investigate the impact environmental heat has on roofers and this study begins to forward this work by understanding the physiological response of roofers to heat stress to advocate for more research in this area of work. To determine the conditions and physiological response to working in hot environments by roofers, the research team used two wearable devices to obtain environmental heat and core body temperature measures. What is found is that participants experienced significantly high heat index values while working. This is reflected in the measure of workers’ core body temperature readings that in some cases have shown core body temperatures significantly exceeding normal core body temperatures.

Keyphrases: construction, Heat strain, heat stress, Roofers, safety, Wearables

In: Tom Leathem, Wesley Collins and Anthony J. Perrenoud (editors). Proceedings of 60th Annual Associated Schools of Construction International Conference, vol 5, pages 921--929

Links:	https://easychair.org/publications/paper/9Jpc
	https://doi.org/10.29007/39sv