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ABSTRACT Black globe temperature ( T g ) is one of the most common measurement variables used for assessing heat stress; however, it is usually not reported in meteorological data. This study developed a model to estimate T g based on meteorological measurements, in order to calculate the occupational heat stress index in outdoor workplaces. This descriptive and analytical study was conducted from M ay to S eptember 2013 in Q om, I ran. Environmental variables such as natural wet‐bulb temperature ( T nw ), dry‐bulb temperature ( T a ), solar radiation ( SR ) and relative humidity ( RH ) were measured by meteorological instruments in weather stations and T g was measured by a globe thermometer in the same situations at different times. Data were analysed using IBM SPSS16 . Independent variables including T nw , T a , SR and RH and the dependent variable T g were introduced to the software, and several regression models were obtained. Finally, a model that had the most appropriate correlation with a significance level of 0.05 was chosen as the best model. The correlation co‐efficients between T g and T nw , T a , SR and RH were obtained as 0.84, 0.63, 0.75 and −0.75, respectively. The results showed that T a , SR and RH can justify about 90% of the variation in T g . There was a significant relationship between T g and T a , SR and RH ( p < 0.05). The correlation co‐efficient between actual and estimated data was 0.95 ( p < 0.001). The model obtained can be trusted to estimate the black globe temperature in a hot and dry environment and can be useful in assessing occupational heat stress in outdoor workplaces.