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      Assessment of thermal environments: working conditions in the portuguese glass industry

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          Abstract

          The objective of the present contribution is to assess the exposure to hot thermal environments in the Portuguese glass industry. For this purpose a field survey was carried out and the measurements took place in industrial units - five industries and nineteen workplaces were considered–so all the results are based on real working conditions. In order to assess the level of heat exposure the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) index and the Predicted Heat Strain (PHS) model, defined in ISO Standards 7243 (1989) and 7933 (2004), respectively, were used. According to the WBGT index, the results show that almost 80% of the workplaces under analysis are prone to heat stress conditions. If the PHS model is considered, the results highlight that the predicted and the maximum sweat rates present equal values in about 40% of the workplaces. In addition, in almost 25% of the workplaces the estimated rectal temperature was higher than 38°C, just for an exposure period of one hour. Thus, the present study brings to light the characteristics of the glass industry in terms of the occupational exposure to hot environments and places this activity sector as one of the most difficult to deal with.

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          Thermal comfort and the heat stress indices.

          Yoram Epstein, Daniel S. Moran (2006)
          Thermal stress is an important factor in many industrial situations, athletic events and military scenarios. It can seriously affect the productivity and the health of the individual and diminish tolerance to other environmental hazards. However, the assessment of the thermal stress and the translation of the stress in terms of physiological and psychological strain is complex. For over a century attempts have been made to construct an index, which will describe heat stress satisfactorily. The many indices that have been suggested can be categorized into one of three groups: "rational indices", "empirical indices", or "direct indices". The first 2 groups are sophisticated indices, which integrate environmental and physiological variables; they are difficult to calculate and are not feasible for daily use. The latter group comprises of simple indices, which are based on the measurement of basic environmental variables. In this group 2 indices are in use for over four decades: the "wet-bulb globe temperature" (WBGT) index and the "discomfort index" (DI). The following review summarizes the current knowledge on thermal indices and their correlates to thermal sensation and comfort. With the present knowledge it is suggested to adopt the DI as a universal heat stress index.
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            Wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT)--its history and its limitations.

            G Budd (2007)
            Wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) is nowadays the most widely used index of heat stress, yet many users appear to be unaware of its history and its limitations. HISTORY OF WBGT: WBGT was invented and first used during the 1950s as one element in a successful campaign to control serious outbreaks of heat illness in training camps of the United States Army and Marine Corps. Control measures based on air temperature and humidity, and applied to all trainees alike, had proved effective but had entailed excessive compliance costs in the form of lost training time. New control measures introduced in 1956 further reduced heat illness and also lost fewer training hours. Crucial innovations were (1) replacing the temperature and humidity measurements with WBGT, which additionally responds to sun and wind, (2) using epidemiologic analyses of casualty records to identify hazardous levels of WBGT and vulnerable trainees, and (3) protecting the most vulnerable trainees by suspending drill at lower levels of WBGT, and by improving their heat tolerance in special conditioning platoons. This campaign has considerable relevance to the prevention of heat illness in sport. LIMITATIONS OF WBGT: WBGT's most serious limitation is that environments at a given level of the index are more stressful when the evaporation of sweat is restricted (by high humidity or low air movement) than when evaporation is free. As with all indices that integrate elements of the thermal environment, interpretation of the observed levels of WBGT requires careful evaluation of people's activity, clothing, and many other factors, all of which can introduce large errors into any predictions of adverse effects. Moreover, the accuracy of WBGT is being eroded by measurement errors associated with the omission of the globe temperature, with non-standard instrumentation, and with unsatisfactory calibration procedures. Because of the above limitations WBGT can provide only a general guide to the likelihood of adverse effects of heat. A much clearer assessment can be obtained by measuring the individual elements of the thermal environment, and using those measurements to estimate the requirement for evaporative cooling, the likelihood of achieving it, and more accurate and comprehensive indices of heat stress.
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              Development and validation of the predicted heat strain model.

              B Kampmann, Carin Havenith, Susan K Parsons … (2001)
              Eight laboratories participated in a concerted research project on the assessment of hot working conditions. The objectives were, among others, to co-ordinate the work of the main European research teams in the field of thermal factors and to improve the methods available to assess the risks of heat disorders at the workplace, and in particular the "Required Sweat Rate" model as presented in International Standard ISO 7933 Standard (1989). The scientific bases of this standard were thoroughly reviewed and a revised model, called "Predicted Heat Strain" (PHS), was developed. This model was then used to predict the minute by minute sweat rates and rectal temperatures during 909 laboratory and field experiments collected from the partners. The Pearson correlation coefficients between observed and predicted values were equal to 0.76 and 0.66 for laboratory experiments and 0.74 and 0.59 for field experiments, respectively, for the sweat rates and the rectal temperatures. The change in sweat rate with time was predicted more accurately by the PHS model than by the required sweat rate model. This suggests that the PHS model would provide an improved basis upon which to determine allowable exposure times from the predicted heat strain in terms of dehydration and increased core temperature.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Journal ID (nlm-ta): Ind Health
                Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Ind Health
                Journal ID (publisher-id): INDHEALTH
                Title: Industrial Health
                Publisher: National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, Japan
                ISSN (Print): 0019-8366
                ISSN (Electronic): 1880-8026
                Publication date (Electronic): 19 August 2017
                Publication date (Print): January 2018
                Volume: 56
                Issue: 1
                Pages: 62-77
                Affiliations
                [1 ]ADAI, LAETA, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Coimbra, Portugal
                [2 ]Coimbra Institute of Engineering, Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Portugal
                Author notes
                [*]*To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: avfmo@ 123456isec.pt
                Article
                Publisher ID: 2017-0048
                DOI: 10.2486/indhealth.2017-0048
                PMC ID: 5800867
                PubMed ID: 28824045
                SO-VID: ea669a80-5144-40e6-b978-5d172cf0ffab
                Copyright © ©2018 National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health
                License:

                This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives (by-nc-nd) License.

                History
                Date received : 27 March 2017
                Date accepted : 08 August 2017
                Categories
                Subject: Field Report

                Keywords: health and safety,heat stress,wbgt index,phs model,industrial units,glass industry
                Data availability:
                Keywords: health and safety, heat stress, wbgt index, phs model, industrial units, glass industry

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