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Thermal Comfort and Safety

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A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (13 April 2023) | Viewed by 7163

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Dr. Magdalena Młynarczyk

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Guest Editor

Department of Ergonomics, Central Institute for Labour Protection-National Research Institute, Czerniakowska St. 16, 00-701 Warsaw, Poland
Interests: thermal comfort; protective clothing; smart textiles; work environment; physiology; thermoregulatory system

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The feeling of thermal comfort in the workplace translates into worker safety. Research shows that sensations of discomfort translate into, for example, an increased number of mistakes. Thermal comfort can be achieved in various ways: through the proper selection of protective clothing (e.g., wearable electronic clothing or smart textiles), protective gloves or other types of protective equipment; thermal comfort is also affected by the parameters of the working environment, air quality, or changes in the response of the thermoregulatory system, drug-induced, age-related, or even sex-differentiated. It still remains to be discovered what we can do to improve the feeling of thermal comfort. This Special Issue aims to increase our knowledge and awareness of thermal comfort and safety, as well as to show the newest research by applying various research techniques. This Special Issue plans to give an overview of the most recent advances in the field of thermal comfort, obtained both in terms of the use of proper protective clothing but also in the design of the working environment. Potential topics include, but are not limited to: thermal comfort, protective clothing, protective equipment, wearable electronic clothing, smart textiles, work environments, heat exchange, physiology, and the thermoregulatory system’s mechanisms of action.

Dr. Magdalena Młynarczyk
Guest Editor

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Keywords

thermal comfort
protective clothing
smart textile
work environment
physiology
thermoregulatory system

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 1044 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Exploring the Predictive Potential of Physiological Measures of Human Thermal Strain in Outdoor Environments in Hot and Humid Areas in Summer—A Case Study of Shanghai, China

by Zefeng Lian, Binyi Liu and Robert D. Brown

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(6), 5017; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20065017 - 12 Mar 2023

Viewed by 1585

Abstract

Whenever people spend time outdoors during hot weather, they are putting themselves in potentially stressful situations. Being able to predict whether a person is overheating can be critical in preventing heat-health issues. There is a clear relationship between body core temperature and heat health. However, measuring body core temperature is expensive. Identifying a non-invasive measure that could indicate a person’s thermal strain would be valuable. This study investigated five physiological measures as possible surrogates: finger mean skin temperature (FSKT), finger maximum skin temperature (FMSKT), skin conductance level (SCL), heart rate (HR), and heart rate variability (HRV). Furthermore, they were compared against the results of participants’ subjective thermal sensation and thermal comfort in a range of hot microclimatic conditions in a hot and humid climate. Results showed that except for SCL, each of the other four physiological measures had a positive significant relationship with thermal sensation, but a negative relationship with thermal comfort. Furthermore, through testing by cumulative link mixed models, HRV was found to be the most suitable surrogate for predicting thermal sensation and thermal comfort through a simple, non-invasive measure in outdoor environment in summer in a hot and humid area. This study highlights the method for predicting human thermal strain and contributes to improve the public health and well-being of urban dwellers in outdoor environments. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Thermal Comfort and Safety)

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20 pages, 8523 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Thermophysiological and Perceptual Responses of Amateur Healthcare Workers: Impacts of Ambient Condition, Inner-Garment Insulation and Personal Cooling Strategy

by Yingying Zhao, Meng Su, Xin Meng, Jiying Liu and Faming Wang

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(1), 612; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20010612 - 29 Dec 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1788

Abstract

While personal protective equipment (PPE) protects healthcare workers from viruses, it also increases the risk of heat stress. In this study, the effects of environmental heat stress, the insulation of the PPE inner-garment layer, and the personal cooling strategy on the physiological and perceptual responses of PPE-clad young college students were evaluated. Three levels of wet bulb globe temperatures (WBGT = 15 °C, 28 °C, and 32 °C) and two types of inner garments (0.37 clo and 0.75 clo) were chosen for this study. In an uncompensable heat stress environment (WBGT = 32 °C), the effects of two commercially available personal cooling systems, including a ventilation cooling system (VCS) and an ice pack cooling system (ICS) on the heat strain mitigation of PPE-clad participants were also assessed. At WBGT = 15 °C with 0.75 clo inner garments, mean skin temperatures were stabilized at 31.2 °C, H_skin was 60–65%, and HR was about 75.5 bpm, indicating that the working scenario was on the cooler side. At WBGT = 28 °C, T_skin plateaued at approximately 34.7 °C, and the participants reported “hot” thermal sensations. The insulation reduction in inner garments from 0.75 clo to 0.37 clo did not significantly improve the physiological thermal comfort of the participants. At WBGT = 32 °C, T_skin was maintained at 35.2–35.7 °C, H_skin was nearly 90% RH, T_core exceeded 37.1 °C, and the mean HR was 91.9 bpm. These conditions indicated that such a working scenario was uncompensable, and personal cooling to mitigate heat stress was required. Relative to that in NCS (no cooling), the mean skin temperatures in ICS and VCS were reduced by 0.61 °C and 0.22 °C, respectively, and the heart rates were decreased by 10.7 and 8.5 bpm, respectively. Perceptual responses in ICS and VCS improved significantly throughout the entire field trials, with VCS outperforming ICS in the individual cooling effect. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Thermal Comfort and Safety)

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14 pages, 2482 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Research on Seasonal Thermal Neutral Temperature in West Lake Scenic Area of Hangzhou, China

by Yi Mei and Lili Xu

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(22), 14677; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192214677 - 9 Nov 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1509

Abstract

The thermal neutral temperature is the foundation for the evaluation of the outdoor thermal environment sensation. This study is designed to investigate the thermal neutral temperature of the outdoor space of Hangzhou West Lake. Both the median method and the thermal sensation vote (TSV) = 0 methods are adopted to discuss the seasonal thermal neutral temperature, thermal neutral temperature range, and thermal acceptable temperature range of the youth group with college students in Hangzhou as representatives. Via the analysis of the relationship between TSV and thermal evaluation index PET, the median method, which proved more suitable for the study site, is selected to obtain the thermal evaluation results. It’s found from the study that, throughout the year, the thermal neutral temperature of Hangzhou West Lake scenic area is 21.0 °C; the thermal neutral temperature range is 12.0–23.9 °C, and the acceptable thermal temperature is 13.0–25.7 °C. The youth group visiting Hangzhou West Lake has the highest acceptance of the thermal environment in spring and autumn and the lowest in winter. Furthermore, the empirical models show that air temperature and average wind speed are the key factors impacting the thermal evaluation of the youth group. This study can serve as a reference for thermal evaluation in similar climate regions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Thermal Comfort and Safety)

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14 pages, 13785 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Investigation of the Thermal Comfort Properties of Masks Used during the COVID-19 Pandemic

by Eren Oner, Ahmet Çağdaş Seçkin, Dilara Egeli and Mine Seçkin

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(18), 11275; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191811275 - 8 Sep 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1721

Abstract

SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19, which was officially declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on 11 March 2020, is transmitted from person to person through respiratory droplets and close contact and can cause severe respiratory failure and pneumonia. Currently, while the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic is still ongoing and countries are taking strict precautions to protect populations against infection, the most effective precautions still seem to be social distancing and wearing a mask. The question of how effective masks were in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic has been widely discussed, both in public and scientific circles, and the protection of different mask types has been examined. This study aimed to examine the comfort conditions provided by the different mask types to the user during use. For this purpose, single-ply, double-ply, three-ply, cloth, FFP1, FFP2, and FFP3 masks with different standards were examined, with and without a valve. To conduct the experiments, the novel thermal head measurement system, developed within the scope of this study, was used specifically for mask comfort studies. Thanks to the developed measurement system, the thermal resistance and water vapor resistance values of different masks were measured, and their comfort conditions were evaluated. According to the findings, cloth masks provide a comfortable condition, with lower thermal resistance and water vapor resistance values than other masks. In addition, it was observed that surgical masks offer better thermal comfort conditions, although they have lower protection than FFP masks. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Thermal Comfort and Safety)

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