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QATAR

BEATING THE HEAT BY DESIGN

Like Goldilocks, we all feel the urge from time to time for comfort and satisfaction. And nowhere does this urge manifest itself more than in our choice of clothing. Our selection of suitable attire is influenced by many different factors - our moods, our attitude to fashion, our size - but one of the most common reasons as to why we choose a particular garment are prevailing weather conditions.

Given this, modern textile manufacturers continuously strive to create new prod-ucts that are not only comfortable and pleasing to the eye, but also have the added benefit of proper protection from differing weather conditions - particularly the more extreme ones, such as heat, cold, rain and snow. In recent years, the textile industry, through innovative approaches to design and technological advances in fabric pro-duction, have made great progress in developing and commercializing fabric that can adapt to these differing environments.

Crucial to this has been the production of fabric that has the capability to prop-erly regulate body temperature through efficient response to different physical and external conditions. This includes thermal, mechanical, chemical, and electrical stimuli, and results in such fabrics finding appropriate and beneficial applications within a variety of differing clothing sectors. Notable examples are in sportswear, military apparel such as bulletproof and flak jackets, fire fighting wear, and many

At the table in the kitchen, there were three bowls of porridge.Goldilocks was hungry.She tasted the porridge from the first bowl."This porridge is too hot!" she exclaimed.So, she tasted the porridge from the second bowl."This porridge is too cold," she said.So, she tasted the last bowl of porridge."Ahhh, this porridge is just right," she said happily and she ate it all up."- Goldilocks and the Three Bears

forms of safety wear for workers operat-ing outdoors or in extreme conditions.

Working under the sun Qatar has an arid desert climate char-acterized by unpleasantly hot summers. And given Qatar's rapidly expanding built environment - a process that has seen a massive increase in the numbers of construction workers in the nation over recent years - greater numbers of workers are being exposed to extreme tempera-tures that can lead to heat exhaustion, heatstroke or ultimately, death. As Rajib, a cleaning operative in Al-Wakrah states: “It’s very exhausting for me to work under this bright sun, but I don’t have any other way of working without doing it. So, to minimize the effect, I cover my face with clothes, and whenever I have a break, I drink lots of water and take my breaks in the shadows.”

It is a fact that, although summer temperatures in Qatar can exceed 40°C, outdoor workers do not possess work clothes that can protect them from such extreme degrees of heat. Designer Alia Khairat is particularly interested in the health and safety aspects of cloth-ing design and technology, and their

Outdoor workers in Qatar are exposed to extreme temperatures that can lead to heat exhaustion, heatstroke or ultimately, death. Smartsummer workwear to beat the countryBy Khadiza Begum, Doha

FEBRUARY 2015

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implications for the rapidly expanding workforce migrating to and working in Qatar. Her master’s degree thesis from Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar focused on the subject and was titled “Not Another Space Suit - Fusing Technology and Indigenous Solutions To Facilitate Thermal Comfort.”

Speaking to bq Khairat says: “Unfor-tunately, to my knowledge, workwear in Qatar is very rudimentary, and does not incorporate any form of heat response technology. Based on my research into the condition of the workwear used by migrant labourers in Qatar, involving extensive field observations and photo analysis of migrant workers themselves, artifact analysis of current work wear sold on the Qatari market, and a survey including the responses of 791 workers from seven different construction com-panies regarding the type of workwear they received from their employers, I don’t think that the government, or employers, have focused on the qual-ity of labourers’ workwear. A lot of recent initiatives from both government and employers have focused upon the improvement of their working condi-tions - particularly hydration, the length

PCM packs are stra-tegically placed on the chest and head to absorb body heat, as they are ideal for people dealing with extreme fluctuations in temperature and who consequently modify their mode of physical activity from very active to sedentary

of their hours and the timing of their shifts, but attention to the quality of their work wear is, sadly, lacking."

Beating the heatMany people are required to work out-doors in Qatar in the summer, from site managers through to construction work-ers, so it is crucial that what they wear facilitates thermal comfort, health and safety. Wearing clothing to suit the

heat can make a big difference to how a person feels and their ability to go about their daily activities productively during periods of extreme heat. “Heat-related illness and injury in the migrant worker population is a huge problem and has many facets. I think smart clothes will help the situation but they need to be supported by a general improvement in working and living conditions," says Khairat.

Smart clothing is an emerging area of the textile industry that combines advances in fabric technology with the ability to sense stimuli from the envi-ronment, and then react or adapt the behaviour of that fabric to those specific circumstances. It provides appropriate protection at the right place and the right time, according to the environmental context it is utilized in. Khairat says: “New technology, indigenous cultures and clothing have always been of interest to me, but I became especially interested in a combined approach to studying these issues during my second year of MFA studies. That was when I researched and wrote a paper, entitled “A Plastic Bottle, an Abaya and a Thobe,” which examined the possibility of using plastic polyethyl-ene terephthalate (PETE) bottles to make Qatari abayas and thobes.

“The research opened up a very intriguing world for me, where fibres and fabric may be modified and enhanced, even at a nano level, to encapsulate scent, self clean and kill fungus and bac-teria. As an interdisciplinary designer,

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I am not just content with using one medium or focusing on one discipline, rather, I find that incorporating different media and disciplines provides a more holistic result.”

Considering the stifling climate workers are forced to labour in, the resulting symptoms associated with heat stress, and the number of heat-related illnesses and injuries in Qatar, Khairat says any attempt to alleviate the situa-tion would have a positive impact on economic productivity. “Heat-related illness and injury is hugely underreported in Qatar and around the world because symptoms may be attributed to other ill-nesses, and injuries are usually written off as work-related accidents. But if one takes into account that workers operate heavy machinery, use dangerous tools and work on scaffolding, whilst suffering from such common heat stress symp-toms as blurred vision and excessive sweating (which could cause them to lose their grip of heavy machinery, tools and scaffolding), then it is not surprising that these workers suffer unfortunate “work-related” injuries”. Cooling them down by providing them with a PCM (Phase Change Materials) vest should decrease such instances of illness and injury and improve productivity."

To help address these issues, Khairat developed a concept of smart clothing for outdoor workers. A T-shirt is the first layer of this clothing system, inspired by

the T-shirts workers covered their heads with. It is made of wicking, UV protective fabric and holds PCM (Phase Change material) or cooling gel pack inserts. PCM packs are strategically placed on the chest and head to absorb body heat, as they are ideal for people dealing with extreme fluctuations in temperature and who consequently modify their mode of physical activity from very active to sedentary. In this sense, PCM are adap-tive materials that are classified as latent heat storage systems. The most useful feature of PCM packs is that, when a certain temperature is reached, they change from solid to liquid form - and vice versa. Additionally, the smart cloth-ing has a special compartment to hold a water bottle, which effectively reminds workers to drink more as they are con-stantly aware of the bottle itself.

My 'concept suit' reduces cases of heat-related illness and injury, and this would save employers money over the long term. Yes, they would initially spend more money on this new form of workwear, but would also spend less on hospital bills and sick leave

ChallengesAccording to Khairat one of the major challenges in the practical application of her design is that of incentive. “How do I convince company owners of the merits of buying and supplying this new workwear as opposed to continuing to use the old versions? At this point, I have not yet determined how much the con-cept suit would cost to mass-produce, but I predict that it would be slightly more expensive than the generic suit the work-ers currently wear.”

In fact, most company owners are swayed by the bottom line when it comes to cost, which invariably means they settle for the cheapest workwear, but in response to that, Khairat points out the following. “Firstly, I would argue that approach is a short-term solution to a

long-term problem. My 'concept suit' reduces cases of heat-related illness and injury, and this would save employ-ers money over the long term. Yes, they would initially spend more money on this new form of workwear, but would also spend less on hospital bills and sick leave. Secondly, the new workwear is composed of two layers. Although it is advisable to use the optimum dual layered version of the suit, workers could also simply use the inner wicking and cooling T-shirt layer. This would provide considerable relief, and cost much less to manufacture than the two-layer work-wear system proposed in my project. This one-layered system is, by itself, a better alternative to the outmoded and ineffective forms of workwear presently used by employers."

Looking to the futureThese forms of smart clothing are entirely new products, and still have a long way to go in the competition to attract buyers in the mass market. In order to make the application of the clothing more commercial, smart cloth-ing developers need to address usability, wearability, and differing user require-ments. Smart clothing could be a smart solution to help increase the fitness and activity level of outdoor workers, particularly in the construction industry. Also, for a country with such a high rate of obesity, the ability to walk outdoors in the brutal summer months more easily could have an added benefit to the health of the nation as a whole, by help-ing to increase fitness and activity levels. Unfortunately, even given the added benefits offered by the adoption of smart clothing, the products are still regarded as very expensive.

“I would like to find a sponsor for this project, so that I can complete final field-testing and marketability studies,” says Khairat. “I believe very strongly in teamwork and I think that at this stage of the project it is imperative to work with partners that would be able to par-ticipate in, energise and complete the whole process of getting my workwear from concept to market."

Adoption of such smart clothing could contribute to the increased health and safety of workers both in Qatar and worldwide, as well as bringing a cost-effective solution to solving the problems of heat-related illness at work for employ-ers, government and citizens alike.