Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

BACKGROUND

Thermal discomfort is mentioned as one of the major causes of dissatisfaction in workplaces when people are exposed to extremely hot or cold thermal environments in the industrial context. Studies evaluating the comfort of the thermal environment are becoming increasingly important, but this kind of studies is time-consuming and it becomes expensive and difficult to implement for many organizations.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to evaluate thermal comfort in a metalworking industry located in Portugal, applying user-friendly thermal indexes supported by real data collected using inexpensive measuring tools.

METHODS

To this end, this study was conducted using objective measurements of air temperature T ( $^{\circ}$ C), and relative humidity RH (%), collected using a pen data acquisition (Easy Log USB). Simultaneously, subjective answers about the perception of thermal comfort by the workers in the section studied were collected based on a questionnaire survey.

RESULTS

The results revealed a high risk of heat stress for some workstations, which required the intervention of the Health and Safety Department.

CONCLUSIONS

The indexes applied in this work, namely the WMO diagram and the EsConTer index, offer a sound model for thermal stress risk evaluation, minimizing difficult and time-consuming investigations to identify thermal comfort problems in workplaces, each emphasizing particular aspects, in order to create value.

Keywords

Ergonomics thermal comfort WMO diagram EsConTer index effective temperature index

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Bluyssen

P. M.

, Aries

, & van Dommelen

(2011). Comfort of workers in office buildings: The European HOPE project. Build. Environ, 46(1), 280–288.

Lan

, Wargocki

, & Lian

(2011). Quantitative measurement of productivity loss due to thermal discomfort. Energy Build, 43(5), 1057–1062.

Huizenga

, Abbaszadeh

, Zagreus

, & Arens

(2006). Air Quality and Thermal Comfort in Office Buildings? Results of a Large Indoor Environmental Quality Survey. In Proceedings of Healthy Buildings, 393–397.

ASHRAE 55 (2010). Thermal Environmental Conditions For Human Occupancy. Atlanta, Georgia: American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers.

ISO 7730, (2006). Ergonomics of thermal environment - Analytical determination and interpretation of thermal comfort using calculation of PMV and PPD indeces and local thermal comfort criteria, in International Standards Organization.

Teixeira

, Talaia

, & Morgado

(2014). Evaluation of indoor thermal environment of a manufacturing industry. In Occupational Safety and Hygiene II – Selected Extended and Revised Contributions from the International Symposium Occupational Safety and Hygiene, 553–558.

Bröde

, Błazejczyk

, Fiala

, Havenith

, Holmér

, Jendritzky

, Kuklane

, & Kampmann

(2013). The Universal Thermal Climate Index UTCI compared to ergonomics standards for assessing the thermal environment. Ind. Health, 51, 16–24.

Morgado

, Talaia

, & Teixeira

(2017). A new simplified model for evaluating thermal environment and thermal sensation: An approach to avoid occupational disorders. Int. J. Ind. Ergon, 60, 3–13.

Nematchoua

M. K.

, Tchinda

, & Orosa

J. A.

(2014). Thermal comfort and energy consumption in modern versus traditional buildings in Cameroon: A questionnaire-based statistical study. Appl. Energy, 114, 687–699.

10.

Djongyang

, Tchinda

, & Njomo

(2010). Thermal comfort: A review paper. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev, 14(9), 2626–2640.

11.

Cox

(2005). Health optimisation protocol for energy-efficient buildings. Delft, The Netherlands: TNO.

12.

Yao

, Li

, & Liu

(2009). A theoretical adaptive model of thermal comfort – Adaptive Predicted Mean Vote (aPMV). Build. Environ., 44(10), 2089–2096.

13.

Akimoto

, Tanabe

, Yanai

, & Sasaki

(2010). Thermal comfort and productivity – Evaluation of workplace environment in a task conditioned office. Build. Environ., 45(1), 45–50.

14.

Emmanuel

(2005). Thermal comfort implications of urbanization in a warm-humid city: the Colombo Metropolitan Region (CMR), Sri Lanka. Build. Environ., 40, 1591–1601.

15.

Arezes

P. M.

, Neves

M. M.

, Teixeira

S. F.

, Leão

C. P.

, & Cunha

J. L.

(2013). Testing thermal comfort of trekking boots: an objective and subjective evaluation. Appl. Ergon., 44(4), 557–65.

16.

Thom

E. C.

(1959). The Discomfort index. In Weatherwise, Boston, 57-60.

17.

W.M.O. (1987). World Climate Programme Applications, Climate and Human Health. World Meteorological Organization.

18.

Talaia

, & Rodrigues

(2006). Heat Stress Indicators in an Industry. Section Thermal Comfort. In Proceedings of Abstracts HB 2006 – Healthy Buildings.