Effectiveness of Exercise-Heat Acclimation for Preventing Heat Illness in the Workplace

Abstract

The incidence of heat-related illness in the workplace is linked to whether or not workers have acclimated to a hot environment. Heat acclimation improves endurance work performance in the heat and thermal comfort at a given work rate. These improvements are achieved by increased sweating and skin blood flow responses, better fluid balance and cardiovascular stability. As a practical means of acclimatizing the body to heat stress, daily aerobic exercise training is recommended since thermoregulatory capacity and blood volume increase with physical fitness. In workers wearing personal protective suits in hot environments, however, little psychophysiological benefit is received from short-term exercise training and/or heat acclimation because of the ineffectiveness of sweating for heat dissipation and the aggravation of thermal discomfort with the accumulation of sweat within the suit. For a manual laborer who works under uncompensable heat stress, better management of the work rate, the work environment and health is required.