Heat Stress Management in Hot Mines

Engineering strategies to counter occupational heat stress usually involve reducing the environmental heat load (through shielding, refrigeration and increased air flow) to facilitate heat dissipation from the human body, and/or improved mechanization to minimize high metabolic rates. In the South African mining industry, technological and economic constraints often preclude a purely engineering-based approach. Personal protection and administrative controls, such as heat acclimatization and heat stress management, for example, then become the only viable alternatives.