Slaughterhouse workers exposed to cold: proposal of reference thermography values for hands

Abstract

The cold environment is an indispensable for slaughtering and processing in the poultry industry In field studies it was observed that a large percentage of workers of this sector have hand contact with the cold chicken and / or frozen, have high complaints prevalence of pain and discomfort, mostly in the hands. The contact of human skin with a cold surface may cause pain, numbness and risk of skin damage. Currently, although the use of infrared thermal imaging has been useful in identifying normal and abnormal patterns of heat distribution on the surface of the body. However your use for work tasks and to assess the potential development of injuries related to it has been limited. Based on the physiological responses can be objectively evaluate the effects of the task demands of work and thus contribute to the development of effective strategies for ergonomic intervention. The methodology will be used to evaluate the subjective thermal sensation with analogue scale of ASHRAE and the infrared thermography in the dorsal and palmar hands. Thus the objective of this research is to propose reference values for thermographic hands within limits of comfort.

Responses of the hands and feet to cold exposure

“…Improvements in imaging for both skin temperature and blood flow has also permitted a more holistic measure of overall extremity thermal and hemodynamics than the point measures from wired probes, and are more practical for field testing. 149,150 Relatively newer techniques for quantifying microcirculation or muscular physiology, such as sidestream dark field imaging, 151 near-infrared spectroscopy, 152 and laser-speckle contrast imaging 153 are emerging as tools potentially relevant to finger blood flow control. However, to date sidestream dark field imaging was developed for microcirculation in the sublingual and gastrointestinal tissues, and it has yet to be validated for measuring cutaneous tissue.…”

Avaliação de riscos à saúde de trabalhadores expostos a baixas temperaturas em abatedouro de frangos

“…Em contrapartida ao crescimento positivo das empresas na produção de carne de frango, é apontada uma grave problemática em relação às condições de saúde dos trabalhadores que atuam diretamente nas plantas frigoríficas, evidenciada através de estudos nacionais e internacionais que relatam a diversidade de riscos físicos (ruído, temperaturas extremas, umidade, vibração), químicos, biológicos e ergonômicos presentes nas atividades de abate e processamento de frangos e outros animais (ARMSTRONG et al, 1993;BAO;SILVERSTEIN;COHEN, 2001;BONDE et al, 2003;BUSNELLO;DEWES, 2013;CASO;RAVAIOLI;VENERI, 2007;DEJOURS;ABDOUCHELI;JAYET, 1994;FROST;ANDERSEN;NIELSEN, 1998;HECK, 2013;JAKOBI et al, 2015;JUUL-KRISTENSEN et al, 2002;MARRAS, 1993;MUSOLIN et al, 2014;SOMMERICH;MCGLOTHLIN;SUNDSTRUP et al, 2013;SUNDSTRUP et al, 2014).…”

“…Consecutivamente estudos em frigoríficos apontam a prevalência de queixas de dor e desconforto em mais de 80% dos trabalhadores expostos ao frio do ambiente de trabalho e ao manuseio de produtos congelados. Os trabalhadores se queixam de mãos frias por que precisam manusear pedaços de frangos resfriados e congelados com temperaturas inferiores a 7ºC (BUZANELO, 2003;BUZANELO;MORO, 2012;HOLMÉR, 1994).…”