HEAT EXPOSURE ASSESSMENT IN THE WORKING ENVIRONMENT OF A GLASS MANUFACTURING UNIT

Heat stress is a common health problem throughout industry. Any heat stress evaluation requires some exposure assessment of climatic conditions, especially air temperature, humidity, and speed, along with the average temperature of the solid surroundings. In this paper workplace environmental climatic parameters were measured and then evaluated by Wet Bulb Globe Temperature, Corrected Effective Temperature, Heat Stress Index, and Allowable Exposure Time indices among 40 workers in a glass manufacturing unit in Tehran. Also, the effect of available heat control devices on heat stress indices was investigated. The results of this study showed that the obtained heat stress index in individual section and press units is exceeded from 100 (in individual section unit: 302.6, in press unit: 283.6). Also, it is found that the mean average of allowable exposure time in individual section and press units were 13.15 and 12.26 minutes exposure for one hour, respectively. No significant relationship was found between environmental parameters in three parts of body regions (height of head, abdomen and ankle) except for measured air velocity in both units (P<0.007). Positive correlation was found between wet bulb globe temperature, corrected effective temperature and heat stress index indices, but negative correlation was found between allowable exposure time and other indices. Mann Whitney non-parametric test revealed significant relationships in wet bulb globe temperature, corrected effective temperature, heat stress index and allowable exposure time indices when metallic shield was used as heat absorber.