Asghari Mehdi, Nassiri Parvin, Monazzam Mohammad Reza, Golbabaei Farideh, Arabalibeik Hossein, Shamsipour Aliakbar, Allahverdy Armin
Department of Occupational Health, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Department of Occupational Health, School of Public Health and Center for Air Pollution Research (CAPR), Institute for Environmental Research (IER), Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
J Environ Health Sci Eng. 2017 Jan 14;15:1. doi: 10.1186/s40201-016-0264-9. eCollection 2017.
Heat stress as a physical harmful agent can increase the risk of health and safety problems in different workplaces such as mining. Although there are different indices to assess the heat stress imposed on workers, choosing the best index for a specific workplace is so important. Since various criteria affect an index applicability, extracting the most effective ones and determining their weights help to prioritize the existing indices and select the optimal index.
In order to achieve this aim, present study compared some heat stress indices using effective methods. The viewpoints of occupational health experts and the qualitative Delphi methods were used to extract the most important criteria. Then, the weights of 11 selected criteria were determined by Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process. Finally, fuzzy TOPSIS technique was applied for choosing the most suitable heat stress index.
According to result, simplicity, reliability, being low cost, and comprehensiveness were the most determinative criteria for a heat stress index. Based on these criteria and their weights, the existing indices were prioritized. Eventually, wet bulb glob temperature appropriated the first priority and it was proposed as an applicable index for evaluating the heat stress at outdoor hot environments such as surface mines.
The use of these strong methods allows introducing the most simple, precise, and applicable tool for evaluation the heat stress in hot environments. It seems that WBGT acts as an appropriate index for assessing the heat stress in mining activities at outdoors.
热应激作为一种物理有害因素，会增加采矿等不同工作场所的健康和安全问题风险。尽管有不同的指标来评估施加在工人身上的热应激，但为特定工作场所选择最佳指标非常重要。由于各种标准会影响指标的适用性，提取最有效的标准并确定其权重有助于对现有指标进行优先级排序并选择最佳指标。
为实现这一目标，本研究使用有效方法比较了一些热应激指标。利用职业健康专家的观点和定性德尔菲法提取最重要的标准。然后，通过模糊层次分析法确定11个选定标准的权重。最后，应用模糊TOPSIS技术选择最合适的热应激指标。
根据结果，简单性、可靠性、低成本和全面性是热应激指标最具决定性的标准。基于这些标准及其权重，对现有指标进行了优先级排序。最终，湿球黑球温度获得首要地位，并被提议作为评估露天矿等室外炎热环境中热应激的适用指标。
使用这些强大的方法可以引入用于评估炎热环境中热应激的最简单、精确和适用的工具。湿球黑球温度似乎是评估户外采矿活动中热应激的合适指标。
