Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Sri Ramachandra University, Chennai, India.
Glob Health Action. 2009 Nov 11;2. doi: 10.3402/gha.v2i0.2060.
Work-related heat stress assessments, the quantification of thermal loads and their physiological consequences have mostly been performed in non-tropical developed country settings. In many developing countries (many of which are also tropical), limited attempts have been made to create detailed job-exposure profiles for various sectors. We present here a case study from Chennai in southern India that illustrates the prevalence of work-related heat stress in multiple processes of automotive industries and the efficacy of relatively simple controls in reducing prevalence of the risk through longitudinal assessments.
We conducted workplace heat stress assessments in automotive and automotive parts manufacturing units according to the protocols recommended by NIOSH, USA. Sites for measurements included indoor locations with process-generated heat exposure, indoor locations without direct process-generated heat exposure and outdoor locations. Nearly 400 measurements of heat stress were made over a four-year period at more than 100 locations within eight units involved with automotive or automotive parts manufacturing in greater Chennai metropolitan area. In addition, cross-sectional measurements were made in select processes of glass manufacturing and textiles to estimate relative prevalence of heat stress.
Results indicate that many processes even in organised large-scale industries have yet to control heat stress-related hazards adequately. Upwards of 28% of workers employed in multiple processes were at risk of heat stress-related health impairment in the sectors assessed. Implications of longitudinal baseline data for assessing efficacy of interventions as well as modelling potential future impacts from climate change (through contributions from worker health and productivity impairments consequent to increases in ambient temperature) are described.
The study re-emphasises the need for recognising heat stress as an important occupational health risk in both formal and informal sectors in India. Making available good baseline data is critical for estimating future impacts.
工作相关的热应激评估、热负荷的量化及其生理后果大多在非热带发达国家进行。在许多发展中国家（其中许多也是热带国家），很少有尝试为各个部门创建详细的工作暴露概况。我们在此展示来自印度南部钦奈的一个案例研究，该研究说明了汽车工业多个过程中与工作相关的热应激的普遍性，以及通过纵向评估，相对简单的控制措施在降低风险的普遍性方面的效果。
我们按照美国 NIOSH 推荐的协议，在汽车和汽车零部件制造单位进行了工作场所热应激评估。测量地点包括产生工艺热量的室内地点、无直接工艺热量产生的室内地点和室外地点。在钦奈大都市区的八个从事汽车或汽车零部件制造的单位内，超过 100 个地点进行了为期四年的近 400 次热应激测量。此外，还对玻璃制造和纺织等选定工艺进行了横断面测量，以估计热应激的相对普遍性。
结果表明，即使在有组织的大规模行业中，许多工艺仍未能充分控制与热应激相关的危害。在所评估的部门中，多达 28%的从事多种工艺的工人面临与热应激相关的健康损害风险。描述了纵向基线数据对评估干预措施效果的影响，以及对未来气候变化潜在影响的建模（通过工人健康和生产力受损导致环境温度升高的贡献）。
该研究再次强调了在印度的正式和非正式部门中，将热应激视为重要职业健康风险的必要性。提供良好的基线数据对于估计未来的影响至关重要。
