ClimApp—Integrating Personal Factors with Weather Forecasts for Individualised Warning and Guidance on Thermal Stress

Abstract

This paper describes the functional development of the ClimApp tool (available for free on iOS and Android devices), which combines current and 24 h weather forecasting with individual information to offer personalised guidance related to thermal exposure. Heat and cold stress assessments are based on ISO standards and thermal models where environmental settings and personal factors are integrated into the ClimApp index ranging from −4 (extremely cold) to +4 (extremely hot), while a range of −1 and +1 signifies low thermal stress. Advice for individuals or for groups is available, and the user can customise the model input according to their personal situation, including activity level, clothing, body characteristics, heat acclimatisation, indoor or outdoor situation, and geographical location. ClimApp output consists of a weather summary, a brief assessment of the thermal situation, and a thermal stress warning. Advice is provided via infographics and text depending on the user profile. ClimApp is available in 10 languages: English, Danish, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Hellenic (Greek), Italian, German, Spanish and French. The tool also includes a research functionality providing a platform for worker and citizen science projects to collect individual data on physical thermal strain and the experienced thermal strain. The application may therefore improve the translation of heat and cold risk assessments and guidance for subpopulations. ClimApp provides the framework for personalising and downscaling weather reports, alerts and advice at the personal level, based on GPS location and adjustable input of individual factors.

A Database of Static Thermal Insulation and Evaporative Resistance Values of Dutch Firefighter Clothing Items and Ensembles

“…However, experimental data have to be collected for proper model selection and validation. Knowing the clothing properties will greatly assist in decision making in relation to extreme weather events and indoor exposures [ 23 , 24 ]. In the same way, exposure to indoor (office) environments can be estimated according to ISO 7730 [ 82 ].…”

“…However, most of the requirements are related to materials and material packages and not for the complete items or clothing ensembles. The current clothing systems in use are combined where possible and should ultimately lead to a fully integrated protective clothing system, of which digital support can be a part, for example, mobile applications, such as ClimApp [ 23 , 24 ] and decision aids [ 25 , 26 ]. In the future, possibly, the clothing system can be combined with the necessary sensors and smart solutions to acquire real-time input from the incident site to allow for the optimal selection of gear.…”

“…Although, the studied clothing systems cover a wide variety of clothing configurations, it may be suspected that specialized clothing, e.g., the ones used by firefighters, may behave differently due to the protective layers and their combinations. Considering any future developments in clothing science and advanced support systems [ 23 , 25 , 26 ], and to select the best suited protection for any incident scenario in high stress situations quickly, more detailed information on thermal properties of clothing that is used by rescue workers is needed. As it is quite impossible to measure all possible clothing combinations used in the field, it is important to create an individual clothing items’ wardrobe database based on manikin measurements.…”

“…As it is quite impossible to measure all possible clothing combinations used in the field, it is important to create an individual clothing items’ wardrobe database based on manikin measurements. Development and/or validation of specific clothing insulation and evaporative resistance summation methods that match the selected clothing system would allow for evaluation of human exposure and to select the proper protection over a wide range of environments and working conditions [ 23 , 26 , 40 , 78 , 80 , 81 , 82 , 83 , 84 , 85 ].…”

Use of Thermoregulatory Models to Evaluate Heat Stress in Industrial Environments

“…Mitigation of heat stress in these conditions are important to ensuring a healthy workforce and to avoid risks of injury and heat disorders [1][2][3][4]. Thermal modeling provides a quantifiable and repeatable method of predicting thermal and physiological responses to various conditions and enables the development of data-driven guidance [5][6][7][8]. The present work seeks to quantify the heat-stress conditions of individual workers within the Portuguese glass industry while also comparing the predictions from four thermoregulatory models.…”