Interaction between Indoor Occupational Heat Stress and Environmental Temperature Elevations during Heat Waves

Abstract

Occupational heat strain is a public health threat, and for outdoor industries there is a direct influence from elevated environmental temperatures during heat waves. However, the impact in indoor settings is more complex as industrial heat production and building architecture become factors of importance. Therefore, this study evaluated effects of heat waves on manufacturing productivity. Production halls in a manufacturing company were instrumented with 33 dataloggers to track air temperature and humidity. In addition, outdoor thermal conditions collected from a weather station next to the factory and daily productivity evaluated as overall equipment efficiency (OEE) were obtained, with interaction between productivity and thermal conditions analyzed before, during, and after four documented heat waves (average daily air temperature above 24°C on at least three consecutive days). Outdoor (before: 21.3° ± 4.6°C, during: 25.5° ± 4.3°C, and after: 19.8° ± 3.8°C) and indoor air temperatures (before: 30.4° ± 1.3°C, during: 32.8° ± 1.4°C, and after: 30.1° ± 1.4°C) were significantly elevated during the heat waves (p < 0.05). OEE was not different during the heat waves when compared with control, pre-heat-wave, and post-heat-wave OEE. Reduced OEE was observed in 3-day periods following the second and fourth heat wave (p < 0.05). Indoor workers in settings with high industrial heat production are exposed to a significant thermal stress that may increase during heat waves, but the impact on productivity cannot be directly derived from outdoor factors. The significant decline in productivity immediately following two of the documented heat waves could relate to a cumulative effect of the thermal strain experienced during work combined with high heat stress in the recovery time between work shifts.

Effect of a Simulated Heat Wave on Physiological Strain and Labour Productivity

“…Due to the inability of ventilation and air conditioning systems that are installed in most industrial settings, the environmental conditions during a heat-wave will more likely affect indoor workplace temperature [ 12 ]. For the purpose of this study we simulated the intensity of a well-known heat-wave that occurred in Paris in 2003 [ 13 ] and which was responsible for an estimated ~15,000 heat-related deaths.…”

Impact Forecasting to Support Emergency Management of Natural Hazards

“…Although drought and heat waves exhibit similar meteorological drivers, they are associated with different impacts: while droughts lead to agricultural yield losses, limitations in water supply, water quality and hydropower (Ding et al, 2011;Stahl et al, 2016), wildfires and loss of lives (Turco et al, 2018), heat waves impact human mortality or morbidity (typically cardiovascular or respiratory, Arbuthnott & Hajat, 2017;de' Donato et al, 2015;Ekamper et al, 2010), work productivity (Ciuha et al, 2019), and agriculture (Parker et al, 2020;Souri et al, 2020). Droughts often have secondary impacts whereby outputs from one industry/sector become inputs into other industries/sectors.…”

Occupational Heat Stress and Practical Cooling Solutions for Healthcare and Industry Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…agriculture and construction). However, manufacturing plants with heat generating equipment are also at risk of high indoor temperatures ( Pogačar et al , 2018 ; Ciuha et al , 2019 ). In Ghana, one of major barriers to workers adopting heat adaptation strategies is lack of training on this issue, management commitment, and heat related policy regulations ( Nunfam et al , 2020 ).…”