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Updated: Jan 26, 2026
Collection and Extraction of Occupational Air Samples for Analysis of Fungal DNA
Published on: May 2, 2018
Estimating Occupational Heat Exposure From Personal Sampling of Public Works Employees in Birmingham, Alabama
Suwei Wang1, Molly B Richardson, Connor Y H Wu
1Department of Population Health Sciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia (Ms Wang, Dr Richardson, Dr Gohlke); Graduate Program in Translational Biology, Medicine and Health, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA (Ms Wang); Department of Geospatial Informatics, Troy University, Troy (Dr Wu); School of Public Health, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham (Ms Cholewa, Dr Lungu), Alabama; Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland (Dr Zaitchik).
Objective:
This study investigated whether using thermometers clipped on workers' shoes would result in different heat exposure estimation and work-rest schedules compared with using area-level meteorological data alone.
Methods:
Alabama workers (n = 51) were individually monitored using thermometers on shoes. Wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT) was estimated using thermometer temperatures (WBGT [personal]) or nearby weather station temperatures (WBGT [WS]). Work-rest schedules were determined from WBGT, clothing, and hourly metabolic rates estimated from self-reported tasks and bodyweight.
Results:
The percent of hours exceeding the threshold limit value (TLV, ACGIH, Cincinnati, OH) were estimated at 47.8% using WBGT (personal) versus 42.1% using WBGT (WS). For work-rest recommendations, more hours fell into the most protective schedule (0 to 15 min work/45 to 60 min rest) using WBGT (personal) versus WBGT (WS) (17.4% vs 14.4%).
Conclusions:
Temperatures from wearable thermometers, together with meteorological data, can serve as an additional method to identify occupational heat stress exposure and recommend work-rest schedules.
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