Influence of cold thermal environment on packing workers from the frozen food processing industry

Abstract

In the fresh food industry the working activities are conducted in environmental temperatures from 0°C to 10°C, while in the frozen food industry usually are at temperatures below 20°C which influences the variations in core and skin body temperatures and affects the working performance, health and safety of the employees. The aim of this work is to contribute with a study on the influence of cold thermal environment on core and skin body temperatures in packing workers from the frozen food industry. By using the core body pill sensor and 8 skin temperature sensors a study was conducted on 4 workers during 11 days. The lowest recorded temperature was for hand 14.09°C, mean skin temperature had variations of 1.10 to 3.20°C along the working period and the mean body temperature on two occasions decreased below 35°C. The core temperature was found to increase. The mean body temperature showed small changes along the time. (c) 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London.