Efficacy of Cooling Vests for Alleviating Heat Strain of Farm Workers in Summer

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of cooling vests developed for farm workers harvesting red pepper in summer. The study was performed using the following two steps: 1) Climatic chamber test, 2) Field test. For the chamber test, a work environment was simulated as and RH, and the thermo-physiological and subjective responses were measured with and without cooling vests. Twelve young males participated as subjects. For the field test, three farmers participated while harvesting red pepper on the form, in summer. The measurements used were same as in the chamber test. Subjects were tested without any cooling vests, as a control. They were tested wearing vests with 2 frozen gel packs (CV2: Cooling area, ), and vests with 4 frozen gel packs (CV4: Sooting area, ). As a result of the chamber test, rectal temperature() and mean skin temperature( ) were lower in both CVs than in Control, and this tendency was statistically significant in CV4 (p) and total sweat rate (TSR) were significantly lower when wearing cooling vests (p on the back. It can be concluded that the cooling vest was effective in alleviating heat strain and discomfort in both the chamber test and the field test, despite the cooling area of the cooling vest being just of the body surface area ().