Heat Stress Monitoring in Construction for Risk-Informed Decision-Making

Heat-related hazards present significant challenges in construction. To effectively mitigate these safety risks, timely assessment of heat stress is vital for implementing heat mitigation strategies. Current field measurement approaches, however, encounter temporal and spatial limitations in monitoring heat stress. This study proposes a framework for near-real-time analysis of spatial heat hazards at construction sites. The framework incorporates 3D modeling to address geometric features and a customized weather station to monitor meteorological conditions. The collected meteorological data is transmitted to a server computer, where heat risks are simulated based on the geometric and meteorological conditions in construction sites. Additionally, the study presents preliminary results comparing the accuracy of this simulation-based approach to on-site measurements using a black globe thermometer and net radiometers. The proposed framework is expected to enhance our understanding of heat risks and enable more effective implementation of protective measures in time-sensitive situations relevant to heat risk.