What causes workers to commit mental errors when the ambient
temperature is higher than 95° F?Answered by Scott Gammons, vice
president of Adroit Medical Systems Inc.; and Rich Shafer,
president of Shafer Enterprises LLC/Cool Shirt.net. The negative
effects of heat stress on human performance are well-documented.
Private research and government tests have consistently proven
that an ambient temperature exceeding a person's normal skin
temperature (90-95° F at the surface) causes mental fatigue and
physical exhaustion. The reason is simple: The skin is the human
body's primary cooling system. In fact, 65 percent of the heat
generated by our bodies exhausts, or radiates, out of our skin.
An additional 25 percent evaporates through sweat glands in our
skin. However, this remarkably efficient cooling system is also
a double-edged sword. The same skin that helps keep us cool is
nearly defenseless against external heat sources greater than
our own body temperature. As the body releases heat, it also
allows heat in.