Among major industries, due to the labor-intensive nature of most of the construction tasks, the construction industry has some of the highest numbers of heat-related illness claims. The leading cause of these illnesses is the repeated exposure of workers to heat stress, which adversely affects productivity, safety, and health. A biophysical interpretation of the body's responses to heat stress is a promising way to continuously measure the likelihood of heat stress exposure of workers. Such a method surpasses current metrics such as Wet Bulb Globe Temperature and Heat Index. The others do not account for variations of individual physiology and biometrics (e.g., age, gender, and metabolism) in response to heat stress. Also, environmentally based methods cannot be used to continuously monitor heat stress in the workplace. This study aims to examine the effect of heat stress exposure on the flux of three different physiological signals: photoplethysmography (PPG), electrodermal activity (EDA), and skin temperature (S.T). To facilitate capture of workers' physical responses to acute heat, these are acquired from a wristband biosensor. To that end, physiological data were gathered from 10 workers performing construction tasks under three climatic conditions, each with a different likelihood of exposure to heat stress-conditions of caution, extreme caution, and danger, as defined by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)'s National Weather Service. Heart rate, heart rate variability, electrodermal activity, electrodermal response, and mean skin temperature were extracted to examine the potential of these signals for measuring workers' heat stress. The results indicated statistically significant differences in the metrics of heat stress exposure. The findings demonstrated the feasibility of PPG, EDA, and S.T. in capturing physiological changes during heat stress exposure and dehydration.
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