Personal risk factors during heat stress exposure in workplace

Nassiri, Parvin; Monazzam, Mohammad Reza; Golbabaei, Farideh; Shamsipour, Aliakbar; Arabalibeik, Hossein; Abbasinia, Marzieh; Chavoshi, Masoumeh; Asghari, Mehdi

Volume 7, Issue 2 (6-2017) J Health Saf Work 2017, 7(2): 163-180 | Back to browse issues page

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Nassiri P, Monazzam M R, Golbabaei F, Shamsipour A, Arabalibeik H, Abbasinia M, et al . Personal risk factors during heat stress exposure in workplace. J Health Saf Work 2017; 7 (2) :163-180
URL: http://jhsw.tums.ac.ir/article-1-5658-en.html

Personal risk factors during heat stress exposure in workplace

Parvin Nassiri¹

, Mohammad Reza Monazzam²

, Farideh Golbabaei¹

, Aliakbar Shamsipour³

, Hossein Arabalibeik⁴

, Marzieh Abbasinia⁵

, Masoumeh Chavoshi⁶

, Mehdi Asghari ^*

⁷

1- Professor, Department of Occupational Health, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
2- Professor, Department of Occupational Health, School of Public Health, Center for Air Pollution Research (CAPR), Institute for Environmental Research (IER), Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
3- Associate Professor, Department of Physical Geography, School of Geography, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
4- Assistant Professor, Research Center for Science and Technology in Medicine (RCSTIM), Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
5- M.Sc., Department of Occupational Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran
6- M.Sc., Department of Occupational Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
7- M.Sc., Department of Occupational Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Center for Air Pollution Research (CAPR), Institute for Environmental Research (IER), Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran , m.asghari2011@gmail.com

Abstract: (9029 Views)

Introduction: Heat stress is caused by many factors such as individual factors, environmental factors, and management factors. Individual risk factors can decrease the heat tolerance, and play an important role in heat stress disorders incidence. The aim of this study was to review individual parameters influencing the thermal stress and review the preceding studies.

Material and Method: In this review study sites such as Web of Science, Scopus, Pubmed, Iran Medex, Magiran, Google Scholar and SID databases were used for search. The keywords included heat stress, personal factors and heat exposure. The period of 1995 to 2015 was investigated, and finally 75 original articles were identified.

Result: At the individual level, exposure with a single risk factor may reduce the workers’ heat tolerance; while exposure with a combination of several risk factors probably synergistically increases the risk of heat-related disorders. Individual risk factors include age, gender, obesity, fatigue, race, and previous heat disorders and dehydration. In addition, some diseases (such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and infectious diseases) or use of certain drugs or alcohol can reduce the heat tolerance.

Conclusion: It is necessary to pay attention to the mentioned items when selecting workers in the hot environments. Also, due to the lack of awareness and knowledge of workers, it is necessary to provide appropriate training programs to reduce the effects of heat stress.