Active man-cooling – a feasibility study.

There is a small but increasing number of men in the British mining industry working in thermal conditions at or above those at which some form of remedial action could be considered to be required. Various approaches have been investigated. Individual personal cooling using some form of cooled garment has been employed successfully in a number of industries but has not been investigated for general mining work in climatic conditions appropriate to the moderately hot, humid conditions typical of British mining. Of the other personal cooling systems which have been employed, externally connected water-cooled garments appear to offer the best potential. In order to extend the options available to the industry in combatting the effects of hot working conditions on the workforce, the present project was therefore established to examine the feasibility of using such an approach in mining conditions.