Apprentice tradies in northern Australia will swallow capsule thermometers to track their core body temperature during work hours as part of a range of studies to address productivity lost through heat stress in the tropics.
Dr Elspeth Oppermann, coordinator of the Heat Stress Research Partnership and a co-author of the 2015 study, said she believed the productivity loss was already greater than estimated in the tropical zone of northern Australia, where “unbearable” conditions persist for months.
It also aimed to track differences in physiological responses to extreme heat, which is where the thermometers come in.
What’s of interest is how people work in these conditions. What can be done by observing their temperatures is to see how their particular mode of working affects their core body temperatures.
She said health and safety guidelines for heat stress, which recommend stopping work if the temperature reaches 35C or 28C with 70% humidity, were not appropriate for the tropical zone, which spans the northern coastline from Broome to Townsville.
Recommended cooling practices for the dry heat of southern Australia, such as laying a wet flannel on your head or sitting in the shade, also don’t work in areas of high humidity such as Darwin or Broome.
Oppermann said the symptoms of heat stress, such as headaches, and irritability were accepted as commonplace by many people working in northern Australia during the build-up to the wet season, and one in four workers surveyed said they experienced the symptoms of heat stress once a week.