American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA)’s Post

2/4 In our case this is an OPEN Beta in the sense that the link and tool itself are not restricted to individual users, but whomever has access to the app link.   We recommend sharing the link with friends and family as well as contacts who might specifically fill the expected user criteria of an outdoor worker, or the supervisor of outdoor workers. Over the course of the Beta run, we will continue to make changes, layer in new functionality, and resolve errors that may be reported to our team.  You can expect that we will continue to contact you through this channel whenever new functionality is deployed, or if there are any service outages you can expect due to our ongoing maintenance.    For example, we are currently in the process of QAing and finalizing push notification functions for our app and expect this functionality to be deployed in the next several weeks. When this happens we will alert you of the change with some recommended test scenarios for you to run through.

1/4 What is the AIHA Heat Stress Application? The AIHA Heat Stress application is a mobile app (both iPhone and Android) developed through a partnership by AIHA and East Carolina University. It is a tool that we expect will be used to prevent heat related illnesses through recommended health measures for two specific user types but will be available for anyone to download for free through their respective app stores once our Beta concludes.  Our target users are: 1. Outdoor workers and 2. Managers of outdoor workers   The key technical differentiator for this application in particular is its focus on an adjusted Wet Bulb Globe Temperature  (WBGT) calculation in order to inform risk and needed action steps. The WBGT calculation algorithm is the core mechanism powering our app's various functions.  For more information on the app, its functions, and navigation, please see the attachment. What is an Open Beta? A Beta launch is an early release of a product to a small group of users with the intended purpose of testing and providing Feedback relative to App functionality prior to a scaled application launch.

3/4 Typically, app developers launch Beta tests when core app functionality is complete, but while still rooting out defects that arise as a normal part of app development. That being said, we have a known deficiency at the start of our Beta test that is worth noting:   1. We are currently experiencing some issues with the Locations Service we are leveraging leading to an inability to search for specific cities in Asia and Africa. We would like to request that you please submit a defect in our feedback form if you run into any issues finding a particular location as this will help our conversations with this service provider.  2. An error with TestFlight that will require following the app link twice to download.

I need to know where it gets the data, how does it compare to OSHA’s WBGT estimator, does it use the Liljegren approach, how does it compare to the National Weather Service experimental product estimating WBGT, and since the OSHA Proposed rule released last week lets the Heat Index be used instead of the WBGT, and the proposed rule won’t allow estimating, you have to measure WBGT or Heat Index for the rule, there are quite a few questions in planned use.

4/4 As stated above, the primary goal of the Beta Launch exercise is to gather feedback on the app experience through the lens of our expected users. This does not mean that if you do not fill one of our two expected user roles currently that your feedback is not useful, but that you should do your best to put yourself in these user's shoes as you think through the app experience to inform your feedback.    To streamline the feedback capture process, we have put together the following Google Form (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSea_3OoYbPXWht7UE3evFdzRBC0fMeH5_OlAK1L4WuAbeQBzg/viewform?usp=send_form)  to capture your feedback. This form is entirely anonymous, does not require a google account to access, and is intended to be the primary outlet by which we capture and review your feedback.    NOTE THAT WE PREFER TO RECEIVE ALL FEEDBACK THROUGH THIS FORM. If you are an Apple user you may see that there is a feedback function as part of TestFlight; however, considering that there is not a comparable function in Android, we would prefer if all feedback came in through our Google Form to standardize our information funnel.

Question does it work outside the USA. I believe previous apps by other IH orgs relied on weather station data and wouldn’t work in Canada.

Excellent! Simple and effective. I would recommend verifying it in the field with a WBGT instrument, but this app can help you see the daily forecast and plan your journey. I live in Barcelona, and I tested the app—the results make sense to me.

This is great!