Sports Medicine Australia Heat Stress Guidelines

 
Australia has been called a sports-mad nation, but their attention to the safety aspects of sports has been highly rational. On-line real-time estimates of WBGT for a number of cities can be obtained from http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDS65004.shtml. This page lists the current estimated WBGT and color-codes the temperature according to the risk that it represents. The risk chart is listed on the same page.

Sports Medicine Australia describes these risks for thermal injury according to WBGT:

WBGT       Risk of Thermal Injury and Recommendation

<68°F        Low risk. Heat illness can occur in distance running. Caution against over-(<20°C)      motivation.

69-77°F     Moderate to high. - Increase vigilance. Caution against over-motivation.       (21-25°C)  iModerate early pre-season training intensity and duration. Take more tttttttttttttttttbreaks.

78-85°F     High - Very high. Limit intensity. Limit duration to less than 60 minutes per (26-29°C)   session.

>=86°F      Extreme. Consider postponement to a cooler part of the day or cancellation. (>=30°C)   Allow swimming.

Open the Sports Medicine Australia Heat Stress Policy (2005) pdf.