New research published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment projects that by 2050, deadly heat waves are likely to become a common natural phenomenon in many parts of the world, putting outdoor workers at increased risk. As one of the hottest countries in the world, Qatar has already gotten a glimpse of what that will look like, making it the perfect laboratory for testing solutions now.
None of the off-the-shelf cooling products worked under Qatari conditions. Cooling vests lined with ice packs were too cumbersome; high tech wicking fabric designed for Californian conditions didn't work in Qatar's high humidity, and high-performance athletic gear wasn't robust enough for a construction site. "We realized that we needed to come up with something innovative that could adapt to the challenging terrain of construction in Qatar," says Qutub.
In 2017, a multi-component suit that would allow workers to mix and match cooling tech depending on their needs. The main component is a bright silver (for high visibility) mesh fabric embedded with phase change materials that absorb and hold heat away from the body, originally designed by NASA to cool astronauts.
The suits aren't designed to increase working hours as much as they are to keep workers more comfortable in high temperatures. To prevent heat stress in high temperature environments, workers still need to rest regularly, hydrate often, and stick to the shade whenever possible. And regardless of what they are wearing, outdoor workers in Qatar are required to put down their tools whenever the temperature exceeds a Global Wet Bulb Temperature of 89.7°F (32.1°C)-an index that factors together heat, humidity, and solar radiation to better assess the impact on the human body.
The water cooling vest are "not miracle cures, but they are tools for comfort". You're a carpenter or an electrician, you start a task, you start to feel under the weather a little from the heat, but you can't always stop. Having things like this will allow you to push for another few minutes, or to walk that little extra distance to get somewhere you are going.He wears his suit whenever he is out on a site, he says. They really do make a difference, relieve high temperature discomfort and greatly improve production efficiency.