Oliveira A Virgílio M, Gaspar Adélio R, Raimundo António M, Quintela Divo A
ADAI, LAETA, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Coimbra, Portugal.
Coimbra Institute of Engineering, Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Portugal.
Ind Health. 2018 Feb 7;56(1):62-77. doi: 10.2486/indhealth.2017-0048. Epub 2017 Aug 19.
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.
本论文的目的是评估葡萄牙玻璃行业工人暴露于高温热环境的情况。为此开展了一项实地调查，测量在工业单位进行——共涉及五个行业的十九个工作场所——因此所有结果均基于实际工作条件。为了评估热暴露水平，分别采用了国际标准化组织7243（1989年）和7933（2004年）标准中定义的湿球黑球温度（WBGT）指数和预测热应变（PHS）模型。根据WBGT指数，结果表明，近80%的被分析工作场所存在热应激风险。若考虑PHS模型，结果突出显示，约40%的工作场所预测出汗率与最大出汗率相等。此外，在近25%的工作场所，仅一小时的暴露时间后，估计直肠温度就高于38°C。因此，本研究揭示了玻璃行业在职业暴露于热环境方面的特点，并表明该行业是最难应对的行业之一。
