Thermal stress, human performance, and physical employment standards

Cheung, Stephen S.; Lee, Jason; Oksa, Juha

doi:10.1139/apnm-2015-0518

Cited by 109 publications

(98 citation statements)

References 157 publications

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“…It was found that in the hot environment, the self selected workload was significantly reduced by 20% for the lifting task and that heart rate was significantly increased by 9 -10 beats. Stephen S Cheung et al 18 , have reviewed the effect of thermal stress, human performance and physical employment standards. The review surveys the major occupational impact of thermal extremes and existing employment standards, proposing guidelines for improvement and areas for future research.…”

Section: Impact Factor (Jcc): 76197 Scopus Indexed Journal Naas Ratimentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effect of Ambient Temperature on Human Strength

Marathe¹,

Tjprc²

2019

IJMPERD

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Impact of environmental conditions like temperature is usually not considered in the measurement of work content analysis. However, to ensure healthy work conditions, it is imperative that studies on the effects of heat and cold stress on workers' capacity are carried out and existing guidelines on working capacity be suitably modified. In this study, the effect of heat stress on the physical strength of subjects measured in terms of average push/ pull/ pedal/ grip force applied over 30 seconds was recorded. In dry bulb temperature studies, it was found that subjects showed a maximum strength at 20 o C or 25 o C and a 30% and 35 % drop in strength was observed at 5 o C and 40 o C respectively. In case of wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT), the maximum strength was recorded between 13 o C to 21 o C and a 31% and 41% drop in strength was observed in the range 3 o C to 5 o C and 37 o C to 39 o C respectively. Statistical analysis of strength at ambient temperatures between 5 o C to 40 o C dry bulb values gave a second order "inverted-U" relationship between strength and temperature and, a second order "U-shaped" relationship between the drop in strength and temperature

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Section: Impact Factor (Jcc): 76197 Scopus Indexed Journal Naas Ratimentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effect of Ambient Temperature on Human Strength

Marathe¹,

Tjprc²

2019

IJMPERD

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“…Thus, researchers must be aware of how best to quantify the physiological impact of diverse environments. One stress index was highlighted by Cheung et al (2016), with regard to heat exposure: the wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) index. The authors drew attention to its limitations, as summarized by Budd (2008).…”

Section: Thermal Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Notwithstanding those qualifications and its ubiquitous workplace use, additional reservations concerning that index are provided below, but with a particular emphasis upon heat exposure within physically demanding occupations. This knowledge is relevant not just to the collection of data during the characterization of working duties (Table 1), but also to recruit screening, for the environmental impact can often represent one of the more physiologically demanding aspects of the job (Cheung et al 2016;McLellan and Havenith 2016). With regard to the heat and coldtolerance testing of potential recruits, readers are directed to the next section of this communication.…”

Section: Thermal Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Examples of heat-tolerance tests are discussed elsewhere (Cheung et al 2016), although analysis reveals the well-established association between aerobic fitness and thermal adaptation that is inherent within those tests (Taylor 2014), such that peak aerobic power is a powerful predictor of heat tolerance. Nevertheless, this suggestion requires further consideration: when could heat-tolerance testing most efficiently be undertaken?…”

Section: Impact Of Personal Protective Clothing and Equipmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is a growing body of evidence, some of which was reviewed by Cheung et al (2016), pertaining to the thermal interaction of heat stress and cognition. This is an important area of research for occupational physiology.…”

Section: Recommendations For Future Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Towards best practice in physical and physiological employment standards

Petersen

Andérson²,

Tipton

et al. 2016

Appl. Physiol. Nutr. Metab.

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While the scope of the term physical employment standards is wide, the principal focus of this paper is on standards related to physiological evaluation of readiness for work. Common applications of such employment standards for work are in public safety and emergency response occupations (e.g., police, firefighting, military), and there is an ever-present need to maximize the scientific quality of this research. Historically, most of these occupations are male-dominated, which leads to potential sex bias during physical demands analysis and determining performance thresholds. It is often assumed that older workers advance to positions with lower physical demand. However, this is not always true, which raises concerns about the long-term maintenance of physiological readiness. Traditionally, little attention has been paid to the inevitable margin of uncertainty that exists around cut-scores. Establishing confidence intervals around the cut-score can reduce for this uncertainty. It may also be necessary to consider the effects of practise and biological variability on test scores. Most tests of readiness for work are conducted under near perfect conditions, while many emergency responses take place under far more demanding and unpredictable conditions. The potential impact of protective clothing, respiratory protection, load carriage, environmental conditions, nutrition, fatigue, sensory deprivation, and stress should also be considered when evaluating readiness for work. In this paper, we seek to establish uniformity in terminology in this field, identify key areas of concern, provide recommendations to improve both scientific and professional practice, and identify priorities for future research.Key words: employment standards, human rights, standard setting, cut-scores, reliability, validity.Résumé : La portée de l'expression normes physiques relatives à l'emploi étant vaste, cet article met l'accent sur les normes associées à l'évaluation physiologique de l'aptitude au travail. On utilise généralement ces normes d'emploi dans le domaine de la sécurité publique et des interventions d'urgence (p. ex. policier, pompier, militaire); ceci étant, il est toujours possible d'améliorer la qualité scientifique de ce domaine de recherche. Historiquement, la majorité de ces emplois sont occupés par des hommes, ce qui pourrait inclure un biais lié au sexe lors de l'analyse des exigences physiques et de la fixation des seuils de performance. Il semble acquis que les travailleurs plus âgés occupent au fil du temps des postes moins exigeants physiquement. Toutefois, comme ce n'est pas toujours le cas, le maintien à long terme des aptitudes au travail pourrait s'avérer problématique. Depuis longtemps, on porte peu d'attention à la marge d'incertitude concernant les seuils de coupure. L'établissement d'un intervalle de confiance au seuil de coupure pourrait combler cette incertitude. On devrait possiblement prendre en compte les effets de la pratique et de la variabilité biologique sur les résultats des tests. La plu...

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The influence of digit size and proportions on dexterity during cold exposure

Payne

Macintosh

Stock

2018

American J Phys Anthropol

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The current study suggests that digit width influences dexterity in cold conditions, reflecting patterns found at room temperature. Hand and digit morphology may be the product of two significant constraints on the hand: dexterity and thermoregulation. In cold conditions, hand morphology appears to be predominantly constrained by thermal stress, at the expense of dexterity. This may have important implications for interpreting the morphology of extinct and extant hominins.

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Thermal stress, human performance, and physical employment standards

Cited by 109 publications

References 157 publications

The Effect of Ambient Temperature on Human Strength

The Effect of Ambient Temperature on Human Strength

Towards best practice in physical and physiological employment standards

The influence of digit size and proportions on dexterity during cold exposure

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