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Wan, R H J, Jia, A Y and Goh, Y M (2021) Managing Climatic Heat Stress in Singapore: State of the Practice and Wearables on Site. In: Scott, L and Neilson, C J (Eds.), Proceedings 37th Annual ARCOM Conference, 6-7 September 2021, UK, Association of Researchers in Construction Management, 309-318.
- Type: Conference Proceedings
- Keywords: Climate, heat stress, intervention, thermal imaging, water-cooling headgear, ethnography, ecosystem
- ISBN/ISSN:
- URL: http://www.arcom.ac.uk/-docs/proceedings/fc63b3b88ab7768825c9882f0e46b8c5.pdf
- Abstract:
Climatic heat stress is a prominent risk to safety and productivity of construction projects. In Singapore, the tropical climate pattern made wearables a cost-efficient safety measure to prevent heat injuries on site. A concurrent study was designed to understand the ecology of managing heat stress in Singapore’s construction industry. This involved an experimental study to test the effectiveness and usability of a commercial water-cooling headgear with a sample of 30 rebar and carpentry workers amid everyday practice on site. Participants’ body temperatures with and without the water-cooling headgear were recorded with a thermal imagery to avoid interfering with the work. In parallel, ethnographic data were collected through observation and six focus groups. Paired-sample t-test between the experimental group and the control group turned a result of significant difference; the ethnographic data analysis confirmed its use is consistent with local coping convention. The research provides a first snapshot of Singapore’s state of practice of managing heat stress in the construction industry. It contributes to the knowledge of designing wearables for on-site heat stress mitigation, and establishes thermal imagery as a useful non-intrusive approach to heat strain monitoring on site.