The development of anti-heat stress clothing for construction workers in hot and humid weather

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to develop anti-heat stress clothing for construction workers in hot and humid weather. Following DeJonge’s functional clothing design process, the design situation was explored, including clothing fabric heat/moisture transporting properties and UV protection and the aspects of clothing ergonomic design (mobility, convenience, and safety). The problem structure was derived from the results of the surveys in three local construction sites, which agreed well with the task requirements and observations. Specifications were consequently described and 30 commercially available fabrics were identified and tested. Fabric testing data and design considerations were inputted in S-smart system to predict the thermal functional performance of the clothing. A new uniform prototype was developed and evaluated. The results of all measurements suggest that the new uniform which incorporated fabrics with superior heat/moisture transporting properties and loose-fitting design could reduce the workers’ heat stress and improve their comfort and work performance.

Practitioner Summary:

The construction workers’ uniform currently used in Hong Kong during summer was unsatisfactory. Following DeJonge’s functional clothing design process, an anti-heat stress uniform was developed by testing 30 fabrics and predicting clothing thermal functional performance using S-smart system. The new uniform could reduce the workers’ heat stress and improve their comfort and work performance.

Keywords:

• Construction workers
• hot and humid weather
• anti-heat stress clothing
• functional clothing design process
• strategy for design situation

Acknowledgements

This paper forms part of the research project titled ‘Anti-heat stress clothing for construction workers in hot and humid weather’, from which other deliverables will be produced with different objectives/scopes but sharing common background and methodology. The authors also wish to acknowledge the contributions of other team members including Dr Michael Yam, Dr Daniel Chan, Dr Edmond Lam, Dr Del Wong, Miss Jackie Young, Dr Song, W.F., Dr Yi, W. and Miss Zhao, Y.J.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.