LSI Heat Shield Heat Stress Monitors

The  Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has launched the first-ever National Emphasis Program (NEP) to protect workers from indoor and outdoor heat hazards. The program will conduct heat-related workplace inspections before workers suffer preventable injuries, illnesses, or fatalities. Entities needing heat stress monitoring include industrial hygiene consultants, construction, agriculture, horticulture, facilities, power plants, utility companies, linemen, road crews, military training establishments, sports facilities and event locations, firefighters, bakeries, warehouses, shops, offices, and cold rooms.The Heat Shield Wireless Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) system measures heat stress in WBGT, a more comprehensive measurement than the Heat Index. The compact and rugged system integrates dry bulb/wet bulb/globe temperatures and relative humidity sensors to display and store on-line WBGT indoor & outdoor index, Heat Index, and Humidex measurements. HeatShield is available with either a 2 inch (5cm) or 6 inch (15 cm) globe.Environmental heat is more than just temperature; four factors contribute to heat stress in workers: air temperature, humidity, radiant heat from sunlight or artificial heat sources such as furnaces, and air movement. An environmental heat assessment should account for all of these factors. OSHA recommends the use of wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT) monitor to measure workplace environmental heat. WBGT devices contain three different thermometers: a dry bulb thermometer to measure ambient air temperature, a natural wet bulb thermometer to measure the potential for evaporative cooling, and a black globe thermometer to measure radiant heat.Workplace environmental heat should be measured on-site using WBGT meters, as the readings from meteorological data from observation stations may not reflect the conditions at the specific worksite due to factors like cloud cover, humidity, and local heat sinks.