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Evaluation Of A Hydration Intervention Among Outdoor Construction Workers

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Abstract
Currently, in the absence of federal regulations for the prevention of heat-related illness in the workplace, employers are encouraged to develop plans that include hydration, training, acclimatization periods for new employees, and alternating work patterns. Although these methods are documented to prevent or reduce the likelihood of a heat casualty event, they are less likely to consider truly adequate hydration behaviors. Additionally, much of the data that exists on human hydration status has focused on hospitalized, institutionalized or professional athletes. There is a knowledge gap regarding hydration perceptions and status in healthy, outdoor workers, and quantifying the increased risk of heat-related illnesses.
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Although consistent implementation of these methods in conjunction with one another is documented to prevent or reduce the likelihood of a heat casualty event, typically management of outdoor construction environments focuses on using informal techniques to monitor environmental heat indices and providing access to fluids, but is less likely to consider actual quantification and evaluation of adequate hydration behavior of affected employees 1-3,8,17,18. For this research-to-practice project, evaluating construction employee hydration in relationship to environmental factors, task effort, hydration technology interventions, training programs, and personal characteristics will be a novel approach to assessing intervention effectiveness. The outcome will provide management guidance on how to most effectively pre-plan for HRI prevention resulting in reduced risk and increased productivity.
In 1986, NIOSH estimated that 5-10 million American workers were to be considered at risk for HRI for at least part of the year10. However, the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report concluded that increases in the frequency and magnitude of temperature extremes will occur with almost 100% probability throughout the 21st century, and that heat waves will also increase in frequency and severity7. The recent years of record-breaking

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