The exposure to extreme temperatures in workplaces involves physical hazards for workers. A poorly acclimated worker may have lower performance and vigilance and therefore may be more exposed to accidents and injuries. Due to the incompatibility of the existing standards implemented in some workplaces and the lack of thermoregulation in many types of protective equipment that are commonly fabricated using various types of polymeric materials, thermal stress remains one of the most frequent physical hazards in many work sectors. However, many of these problems can be overcome with the use of smart textile technologies that enable intelligent thermoregulation in personal protective equipment. Being based on conductive and functional polymeric materials, smart textiles can detect many external stimuli and react to them. Interconnected sensors and actuators that interact and react to existing risks can provide the wearer with increased safety, protection, and comfort. Thus, the skills of smart protective equipment can contribute to the reduction of errors and the number and severity of accidents in the workplace and thus promote improved performance, efficiency, and productivity. This review provides an overview and opinions of authors on the current state of knowledge on these types of technologies by reviewing and discussing the state of the art of commercially available systems and the advances made in previous research works.

Objective: This paper proposes a comprehensive literature review of past works addressing Hearing Protection Devices (HPDs) comfort with the aim of identifying the main sources of variability in comfort evaluation. Design: Literature review. Study samples: Documents were hand searched and Internet searched using ‘PubMed’, ‘Web of Science’, ‘Google Scholar’, ‘ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Professional’, ‘Scopus’ or ‘Google’ search engines. While comfort constructs and measurement methods are reviewed for both earplugs and earmuff HPD types, results and analyses are provided for earplugs only. Results: The literature shows that the multiple sources of the perceived comfort measurement variability are related to the complexity of the concept of comfort and to the various physical and psychosocial characteristics of the triad ‘Environment/Person/Earplug’ which differ from one study to the other. Conclusions: Considering the current state of knowledge and in order to decrease comfort measurements variability, it is advised to (i) use a multidimensional construct of comfort and derive a comfort index for each comfort dimensions, (ii) use exhaustive and valid questionnaires, (iii) quantify as much as triad characteristics as possible and use them as independent or control variables, and (iv) assess the quality of the earplug fitting and the attenuation efficiency.

Offering hearing protection devices (HPDs) to workers exposed to hazardous noise is a noise control strategy often used to prevent noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL). However, HPDs are used incorrectly and inconsistently, which explains their limited efficiency. Numerous models based on social cognition theories identify the significant factors associated with inconsistent HPD use and aim to improve HPD training programs and to increase HPD use. However, these models do not detail (dis)comfort aspects originating from complex interactions between characteristics of the triad “environment/person/HPD” while these aspects are known to largely influence HPD (mis)use. This paper proposes a holistic model explaining HPD (mis)use, based on the integration of a comfort model adapted to HPDs into an existing behavioral model already developed for HPDs. The model also takes into account the temporal dimension, which makes it possible to capture the scope of change in HPD-related health behaviors. This holistic description of HPD use could be used as a tool for stakeholders involved in HPD use to effectively prevent NIHL among workers.

The use of slip-resistant winter footwear is crucial for the prevention of slips and falls on ice and snow. The main objective of this paper is to evaluate a mechanical testing method to determine footwear slip resistance on wet and dry ice surfaces and to compare it with the human-centred test method introduced by researchers at KITE (Knowledge, Innovation, Talent, Everywhere)-Toronto Rehabilitation Institute-University Health Network. Phase 1 of this study assessed the repeatability and reproducibility of the mechanical method by evaluating ten different occupational winter boots using two SATRA Slip resistance testers (STM 603, SATRA Technology Centre, Kettering, UK). One tester is located in Toronto and one in Montreal. These boots were chosen based on the needs of the IRSST (Institut de Recherche Robert-Sauvé en Santé et en Sécurité du Travail, Montréal, Quebec, Canada), who were primarily interested in providing safe winter footwear for police, firefighters and municipal workers. In Phase 2, the results of the human-centred test approach were compared with the mechanical results. In Phase 3, two of these boots with conflicting results from the previous phases were tested using a second human-centred method. In Phase 1, the mechanical testing results obtained in the two labs showed a high linear correlation (>0.94) and good agreement on both ice surfaces; however, they revealed a bias (~0.06) between the two labs on the dry ice condition. The mechanical and human-centred tests (phase 2) were found to be better correlated in the wet ice condition (R = 0.95) compared to the dry ice condition (R = 0.34). Finally, the rating of the footwear slip resistance based on the number of slips counted in phase 3 was consistent with the rating by the human-centred test method (phase 2), but not the mechanical method (phase 1). The findings of this study provide a better understanding of the limitations of the SATRA ice tray for measuring footwear slip resistance and demonstrate that the mechanical method must be further refined to make it more comparable to the human-centred methods to achieve better agreement with real-world performance.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of anti-vibration gloves on manual dexterity and to explore factors affecting the manual dexterity. The manual dexterity of ten different gloves was investigated with 15 adult male subjects via performing two different dexterity tests, namely ASTM F2010 standard test and Two-Hand Turning and Placing Minnesota test. Two-factor repeated-measures analysis of variance was conducted to evaluate the main effects of glove type, test method and their interaction effect on manual dexterity. Results suggested that glove type yielded significant effect on manual dexterity (p < .001), while no significant difference was observed between test methods (p = .112). The interaction effect of glove type and test method also revealed a significant difference (p = .009). The manual dexterity decreased nearly linearly with increase in the glove thickness, which further showed a moderately significant difference on the number of drops during the tests. Practitioner Summary: Anti-vibration gloves may adversely affect manual dexterity and work precision, which may discourage their usage. This article presented a study of manual dexterity performance of anti-vibration gloves and the design factors affecting the manual dexterity. The results were discussed in view of a design guidance for improved hand dexterity, which would encourage the use of anti-vibration gloves in the workplace.