Sanitary and hygienic assessment of overalls for workers in a heating environment is currently carried out only on the physical, mechanical and hygienic properties of the materials from which it is made, not taking into account the effect of clothing on the thermal state of the human body and its heat and moisture exchange with the environment. Th e results of studies of the thermal and functional state of a person performing physical work in a heating environment showed differences in the formation of the thermal load on the body depending on the air temperature and the type of workwear used to protect against production hazards, as well as the significance of the thermophysical parameters of the materials (air permeability, vapor permeability, hygroscopicity) of which it is made. In addition, the development and manufacture of new materials with special protective properties, including using nanotechnology, expanding their assortment for the manufacture of workwear dictates the need to test their protective properties not only at the stands, but also in finished products in experimental studies involving humans. Th erefore, it is urgent to develop a methodology for evaluating workwear according to indicators of a person’s thermal state, which allows determining the degree of influence of the whole complex of environmental factors, labor process and workwear on the thermal state of people working in a heating environment in order to predict it and establish the work schedule in relation to specific conditions. Th e technique is intended for organizations involved in the design and development of workwear used in a heating environment, as well as materials for its manufacture; for testing laboratories performing sanitary-hygienic assessment of personal protective equipment.

Occupational morbidity caused by physical overloads and certain organs and systems being overstrained ranks second among occupational pathologies depending on an influencing adverse occupational factor. Given that, it seems vital and promising to develop industrial exoskeletons as they are able to protect a worker’s musculoskeletal system from excessive physical loads. And absence of a relative regulatory and technologic base is a challenge here as it imposes substantial limitations on industrial exoskeletons implementation in productions both in Russia and in other countries. A significant role in creating regulatory and technological base belongs to a possibility to accomplish an objective medical and biological examination of industrial exoskeletons safety and physiological efficiency. Developed and properly tested procedures for examining physiological and ergonomic properties of industrial exoskeletons will make a substantial contribution into a system of complex ergonomic tests accomplished at stages when exoskeletons are developed, created, and put into trial operation. The present paper dwells on up-to-date medical and biological procedures for examining safety and physiological efficiency of industrial exoskeletons. There are examples on using a «movement seizure» procedure performed with inertial sensors, ergospirometry, electromyography, and myotonometry for estimating physiological and ergonomic properties of industrial exoskeletons at a modeled working place. Results obtained via this research involving all the above mentioned procedures confirmed that it was safe and quite efficient to apply industrial exoskeletons for workers who had to deal with physical labor when performing work tasks similar to those used in developed models. Applied procedures can substantially enhance approaches to examining a worker’s functional state and obtained results will make a significant contribution into development of a regulatory and technological base for promising individual protection means used to protect the musculoskeletal system within the existing System of occupational safety standards.

Today, there are personal protective equipment, which due to their weight and size characteristics and design features can aggravate professional activity. This is characterized by an increase in the load on several major systems of the employee's body, including the cardiorespiratory system, which can cause the development of occupational pathology. The study of the functions of the cardiorespiratory system of humans in the process of his work is an important task in biomedical tests such as PPE, aggravating their professional activities and future means of individual protection from heavy labor and industrial exoskeletons. The aim of the study is to determine the possibility of using ergospirometry for the physiological assessment of personal protective equipment and industrial exoskeletons. Main part. In medical practice and high-performance sports, ergospirometry is considered the "gold standard" for functional assessment of the cardiorespiratory system. There are very few studies showing the use of ergospirometry for the purpose of physiological assessment of personal protective equipment. Results of research works in which ergospirometry was used in medicine, sports, as well as on the physiological and hygienic assessment of combat equipment, various types of personal protective equipment, including new promising personal protective equipment of the musculoskeletal system-industrial exoskeletons. The use of ergospirometry made it possible to register the main indicators of the human cardiorespiratory system both in field and laboratory conditions and allowed forming an objective conclusion about the dynamics of the degree of stress of the human cardiorespiratory system when using personal protective equipment and industrial exoskeletons with various weight and size characteristics. Thus, the use of ergospirometry both in isolation and in combination with other methods allows us to solve problems related to biomedical testing of personal protective equipment and industrial exoskeletons.

The most common methods for assessing the human functional state in the research of the safety and effectiveness of industrial exoskeletons are presented.