Iranian Journal of

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MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Background and Objectives: Heat stress is considered as a serious threat to the health and safety of workers in many industries, including petrochemical and steel. Assessment of the heat stress is important from the disease prevention point of view and also for the safety and performance of workers at workplace. Although there are many indices to evaluate the heat stress, it is hard to select an applicable index for a wide range of weather conditions. The purpose of the study was to develop an optimal index based on physiological parameters in a petrochemical industry. 
Materials and Methods: The study was conducted in a petrochemical industry located in Assaluyeh (south of Iran). Twenty one healthy young men at different levels of fitness and heat acclimation volunteered to participate in the study. Physiological parameters including heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, skin temperature and oral temperature were measured during the working day over two consecutive weeks. Simultaneously, we measured the climatic parameters required to calculate the wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT), required sweat rate (SWreq), and the discomfort index (DI) indices.
Results: All the measurements took place on 2 sites: Kar (working place) and Paziresh (resting room). Our results showed  that the mean values of indices and physiological parameters   in Kar    for both acclimated and unacclimated groups were significantly higher than Paziresh (P<0.05). There was the strongest linear correlation between WBGT and heart rate (0.731), systolic blood pressure (0.695) and diastolic blood pressure (0.375) and skin temperature (0.451) respectively. The amounts of DI were 0.725, 0.446, 0.352, and 0.689 respectively. But the strongest linear relationship existed between SWreq and deep body temperature (0.766).
Conclusion:  There were significant differences in the present indices and physiological parameters of Kar and Paziresh, confirming the previous studies findings. Finally, WBGT was considered optimal index and the results revealed the almost perfect linear correlation between WBGT and heart rate. We propose WBGT can be the most applicable index for evaluating heat stress in this climate.  

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Background and Objectives: Nowadays, indicators related to human physiology have special roles in human bioclimatic and environmental studies. One of these indices is Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET). In the present study, trends of physiological equivalent temperature index over the past half century, which is the foundation of plans, especially in the field of health and environment, were evaluated in four climatic regions of Iran (Mashhad, Rasht, Esfahan, Tabriz and Bandar Abbas).

Material and methods: In this study, the data required to calculate the heat stress in the daily scale for 50 years during 1961-2010 were obtained from Iranian Meteorological Organization. Then, PET index at the daily scale was calculated and values greater than 35°C were identified for warm periods of the year. In the next step, the seasonal trends were analyzed by Mann-Kendall test.

Results: Changes in the frequency of days with heat stress in stations of Mashhad, Isfahan, and Tabriz have been rising during spring and summer. In other words, the greatest amount of positive change has occurred over the long-term average in these cities. The highest frequency of hot days was observed in Rasht and Bandar Abbas stations. The main reason for this subject has to do with how adjacent they were to the sea and the high rate of evaporation in such areas.

Conclusion: The 1980s-1990s have been allocated as the most days of hot stress. Upward trend of thermal stress occurring in the studied stations has increased the attention to the problem of heat stress and disease (thermal attack, fainting, muscle cramps) from the field of planning and management of the crisis.