| Heat stress on workers working outdoors, in the power industry may result in fatigue and deterioration in task performance. Wearing a cooling suit can be a very effective method to counteract the effects of heat stress. This study gathered and analyzed data of the task performance of workers, working indoors, outdoors with and without a cooling suit. The task performance was compared on the bases of heart rate, oxygen consumption, tympanic temperature, subjective responses, productivity, and error rates.; With the cooling suit, a significantly lower estimated working oxygen consumption was observed (p < 0.001). The productivity was higher while wearing the cooling suit as compared to without the cooling suit (p = 0.011). The cooling suit use also reported a significantly lower error rate for task performance (p < 0.001). Also significantly lower discomfort was observed at the shoulders while working wearing the cooling suit (p = 0.004).; It was determined that wearing the cooling suit while working outdoors, provides physiological benefits as well as improves the overall task performance of the utility worker. It requires less energy expenditure to perform a task outdoors while wearing the cooling suit as opposed to without the cooling suit and is similar to a person working indoors. |
