Beating the Heat Aloft: Cooling Strategies for Entertainment Riggers
Working at height is demanding even on a perfect day, but add heat, harnesses, black drape, and long calls, and the risk level climbs fast. Heat stress doesn’t just make riggers uncomfortable; it can impair judgment, slow reaction time, and increase the chance of a fall or rescue situation.
This post walks through why heat is such a serious issue for riggers and how a structured cooling plan with the ThermApparel UltraCool Cooling Vest and CoolSleeves can keep crews sharper and safer aloft.
Why Heat Is Extra Dangerous for Riggers
Riggers deal with a worst‑case combination: physical exertion, heavy PPE, limited airflow, and exposure to hot roofs, grids, or catwalks. At height, there’s no quick step to the side if you start to feel faint; any lapse in concentration becomes a serious safety event.
When your body overheats, your heart works harder to push blood to the skin for cooling, leaving less blood available for muscles and the brain. Studies show that hot environments can significantly reduce cognitive performance, slowing reaction time and decision making, exactly what you don’t want when you’re walking steel or operating hoists.
Signs of Heat Trouble Aloft
Riggers are especially at risk because symptoms can be easy to ignore until they become critical.
Common early warnings include:
- Increasing clumsiness or missed steps
- Headache, dizziness, or “tunnel vision”
- Slowed problem‑solving, confusion with simple tasks
- Muscle cramps, nausea, or feeling unusually wiped out
If heat exhaustion progresses, it can turn into heat stroke, a life‑threatening emergency that may involve collapse, confusion, or loss of consciousness. At height, that’s not just a medical issue; it becomes a rescue scenario for the entire crew.
How Heat Impacts Rigging Work
Even before you hit “emergency” territory, heat quietly drains performance.
What’s happening in your body:
- Vasodilation: Blood vessels widen so more blood goes to the skin, leaving less for your muscles and brain.
- Heart rate spike: Every degree of core temperature increase forces your heart to beat faster, increasing cardiovascular strain over long calls.
- Reduced coordination: Dehydration and heat reduce fine motor control, making precise work like clipping in, tying knots, and operating gear harder.
- Cognitive slowdown: Hot conditions can impair attention, working memory, and processing speed, affecting hazard recognition and problem‑solving.
For riggers, that can look like slower climbs, misread labels, incorrectly clipped hardware, or miscommunication on the radio, all of which raise risk for them and everyone below.
Why Traditional Cooling Isn’t Enough Aloft
Most worksites rely on shade tents, hydration, and scheduled breaks on the ground.
Those are essential, but they have limitations for riggers:
- You can’t always come down when you first feel symptoms.
- Harnesses, helmets, gloves, and dark clothing trap heat.
- Air movement is limited in grids, catwalks, or roof structures.
- Each “cool‑down” descent might cost 30–60 minutes of lost productivity by the time you unclip, climb down, cool off, re‑gear, and go back up.
For many crews, the result is a trade‑off between staying cool and staying productive.
That’s the gap personal cooling gear can fill.
A Rigger‑Focused Cooling Plan: UltraCool + CoolSleeves
ThermApparel’s UltraCool Cooling Vest and CoolSleeves use phase change material (PCM) cooling packs that maintain a safe, controlled cool temperature and stay dry. No condensation, no fans, no power. They’re designed to fit under work clothing and rigging harnesses without restricting movement or interfering with fall protection.
A simple three‑phase plan works well for riggers:
1. Pre‑Cooling Before You Climb
Start cooling before the call heats up.
- Put on the UltraCool vest 30–60 minutes before going aloft.
- Wear CoolSleeves while you stage motors, hardware, or cable on the floor.
- Hydrate steadily with small sips of water rather than chugging.
- Swap the cooling packs before going Aloft.
Pre‑cooling lowers your starting core temperature, so it takes longer for you to reach the “danger zone” once you’re on the grid or roof.
2. On‑Call Cooling While Aloft
Once you’re clipped in and working, you need cooling that plays nicely with your harness. UltraCool is built for this environment:
- Harness‑friendly profile: The vest is low‑bulk and sits close to the body, so it doesn’t interfere with D‑rings or harness fit when sized correctly.
- Distributed weight: PCM packs are spread across the torso to avoid pressure points under straps and lanyards.
- Silent and power‑free: No batteries or fans to snag on rigging or fail mid‑call.
- CoolSleeves add targeted cooling along the forearms where blood flows close to the surface, giving you a fast “reset” without touching your torso layers.
3. The 30‑Minute Pack Swap: Staying Aloft Longer
The key advantage for riggers is that ThermApparel ExtendedCool Cooling Packs can be recharged in ice water in about 30 minutes and swapped in place.
A typical day might look like:
- Start of load‑in: Fresh packs in UltraCool and CoolSleeves.
- Mid‑morning: Swap warmed packs for fresh ones from a small cooler at the work position; drop the used packs into the ice water to refreeze.
- Lunch: Another swap, keeping you cool through the afternoon focus or load‑out.
Because the packs refreeze quickly in ice water, you can rotate sets without descending, saving hours of combined labor time on long calls while still actively managing heat stress.
Practical Tips for Riggers Using PCM Cooling
A few simple habits make the system work best in a rigging environment:
- Fit the vest snugly: Tight contact with the body improves cooling and prevents packs from shifting under the harness.
- Freeze packs flat: Lay the cooling packs flat or stack them evenly so they freeze flat; if they freeze oddly, soften with warm water, reshape, and refreeze.
- Plan pack logistics: Assign someone on the ground to manage the ice-water cooler, pack rotation, and handoffs at breaks.
- Keep gear clean: Machine wash the vest garments like activewear and hand wash packs only.
- Combine with standard heat protocols: Cooling gear supplements, never replaces, OSHA heat illness prevention measures, hydration, rest breaks, and medical response plans.
Building Heat Mitigation Into Rigging Safety
Heat is now recognized as a workplace hazard, and OSHA expects employers to address it as part of a comprehensive safety program. For rigging supervisors and production managers, that means:
- Including heat risk in job planning and toolbox talks.
- Training crews to recognize heat illness symptoms.
- Establishing rescue procedures for overheated workers at height.
- Providing engineering and PPE controls, like cooling vests, to reduce risk when high heat is unavoidable.
Personal cooling gear like the ThermApparel UltraCool Cooling Vest and CoolSleeves gives riggers another tool to stay sharp, maintain dexterity, and reduce fatigue during long, hot calls, without constantly climbing up and down.
If you or your crew are interested in testing this setup on your next show, you can start with a simple kit: one UltraCool Cooling Vest with ExtendedCool Cooling Packs, and CoolSleeves, plus a small cooler and ice water for pack rotation. It’s a straightforward way to turn heat from an unmanageable hazard into something you actively control.