An International Thermal Comfort Standard for People with Special Requirements

The International Standards Organisation (ISO) is currently working on a project to produce an international standard entitled; “Ergonomics of the Thermal Environment: application of international standards for people with special requirements”. Progress has led to a draft of the standard that will be considered for international voting and comment. Eventually, with acceptance, ISO 14415 will be published in full standard or technical report form. The work recognises that people with physical disabilities may have special requirements in terms of what are appropriate thermal environments and that current international standards may not apply or would need to be modified. Examples include standards for the estimation of clothing insulation and metabolic heat production. There may also be modifications to methods of assessment such as those given in thermal comfort standards. This paper describes the development of the standard and its current form. It also provides a discussion of possible improvements to the standard including a new approach based upon adaptive and behavioural assessment methods.