In an effort to develop protective clothing that offered improved heat dissipation characteristics to pesticide applicators, the thermal responses were collected from 54 male subjects wearing two prototypes and a typical clothing ensemble. The performance of three designs and three fabrics with known chemical protective characteristics was determined in a controlled laboratory, simulating a hot environment. Analysis of physiological and perceptual data revealed that one protective fabric offered a similar thermal comfort level as chambray, a fabric growers often wear for pesticide application, which is an ineffective barrier to pesticide penetration.

No abstract

While pesticides are extensively used in U.S. agriculture, little research has been done to document pesticide use and practices of applicators in commercial cattle feedlot operations. The purpose of this exploratory study was to: (1) investigate behavior of commercial cattle feeders using pesticides, (2) determine protective clothing and/or equipment used when personnel apply pesticides, (3) determine clothing management practices, and (4) identify formulations and methods of pesticide application used by feedlot personnel. A questionnaire was administered to 54 commercial feedlot operations. A majority of the 54 feedlots fed over 16,000 cattle annually, while most handling of livestock (including pesticide application) was done by small crews (i.e., 1-4 persons). Results indicated that these feedlot crews may be substantially exposed to a variety of pesticides. Generally, protective clothing was not worn or was insufficient to minimize pesticide exposure.

No abstract

The concept of effective temperature, introduced by Houghten and Yaglou in 1923, stands as one of the major contributions to thermal comfort research. However, because it tends to overestimate the effects of humidity at cold temperatures and underestimate its effect at high temperatures, a new effective temperature index was proposed by Gagge. It is based on constant body wettedness caused by regulatory sweating. This paper describes a study in which the responses of 1600 subjects who were tested at 20 dry bulb temperatures at each of 8 relative humidities were treated by probit analysis. The results yielded two equations, one predicting “cold discomfort” and one predicting “warm discomfort”. The predicted percentage of people who will be dissatisfied was determined and is incorporated in an easily-read psychrometric chart. The results are discussed in terms of the new ASHRAE Comfort Standard and the Federal Energy Guidelines that mandates 65 F maximum for winter heating and 78 F mimimum for summer cooling.