IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v14y2017i8p838-d105972.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Thermographic Evaluation of the Hands of Pig Slaughterhouse Workers Exposed to Cold Temperatures

Author

Listed:
  • Adriana Seára Tirloni

    (Tecnological Center, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianópolis 88040-370, Santa Catarina, Brazil)

  • Diogo Cunha dos Reis

    (Tecnological Center, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianópolis 88040-370, Santa Catarina, Brazil
    Biomechanic’s Laboratory, CDS, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianópolis 88040-90, Santa Catarina, Brazil)

  • Eliane Ramos

    (Tecnological Center, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianópolis 88040-370, Santa Catarina, Brazil)

  • Antônio Renato Pereira Moro

    (Tecnological Center, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianópolis 88040-370, Santa Catarina, Brazil
    Biomechanic’s Laboratory, CDS, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianópolis 88040-90, Santa Catarina, Brazil)

Abstract

Brazil was rated the fourth leading producer and exporter of pork meat in the world. The aim of this study was to evaluate the temperature of the hands of pig slaughterhouse workers and its relation to the thermal sensation of the hands and the use of a cutting tool. The study included 106 workers in a pig slaughterhouse. An infrared camera FlirThermaCAM E320 (Flir Systems, Wilsonville, OR, USA) was used to collect the images of the dorsal and palmar surfaces of both hands. A numerical scale was used to obtain the thermal sensation. Chi-square test, Pearson correlation and Student’s t test or Wilcoxon were used ( p ≤ 0.05). The majority of workers felt cold in the hands (66%) and workers who used the knife felt the coldest. There was an association between the thermal sensation and the use of knife ( p = 0.001). Workers who used the tool showed correlation between the thermal sensation and the temperatures of the left fingers, with a difference between the temperatures of the right and left hands of those who used the knife ( p ≤ 0.05). The hands (left) that manipulated the products presented the lowest temperatures. Findings indicate that employers of pig slaughterhouses should provide gloves with adequate thermal insulation to preserve the health of workers’ hands.

Suggested Citation

  • Adriana Seára Tirloni & Diogo Cunha dos Reis & Eliane Ramos & Antônio Renato Pereira Moro, 2017. "Thermographic Evaluation of the Hands of Pig Slaughterhouse Workers Exposed to Cold Temperatures," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-14, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:14:y:2017:i:8:p:838-:d:105972
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/14/8/838/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/14/8/838/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jelena Reste & Tija Zvagule & Natalja Kurjane & Zanna Martinsone & Inese Martinsone & Anita Seile & Ivars Vanadzins, 2015. "Wrist Hypothermia Related to Continuous Work with a Computer Mouse: A Digital Infrared Imaging Pilot Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-17, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. André Luiz Soares & Antonio Augusto de Paula Xavier & Ariel Orlei Michaloski, 2020. "Occupational Risk Evaluation through Infrared Thermography: Development and Proposal of a Rapid Screening Tool for Risk Assessment Arising from Repetitive Actions of the Upper Limbs," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(10), pages 1-19, May.
    2. Mohamed Z. Ramadan, 2017. "The Effects of Industrial Protective Gloves and Hand Skin Temperatures on Hand Grip Strength and Discomfort Rating," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-16, December.
    3. Adriana Seára Tirloni & Diogo Cunha dos Reis & Salvador Francisco Tirloni & Antônio Renato Pereira Moro, 2020. "Exertion Perception When Performing Cutting Tasks in Poultry Slaughterhouses: Risk Assessment of Developing Musculoskeletal Disorders," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(24), pages 1-15, December.
    4. Adriana Seára Tirloni & Diogo Cunha Dos Reis & Natália Fonseca Dias & Antônio Renato Pereira Moro, 2018. "The Use of Personal Protective Equipment: Finger Temperatures and Thermal Sensation of Workers’ Exposure to Cold Environment," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-14, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. André Luiz Soares & Antonio Augusto de Paula Xavier & Ariel Orlei Michaloski, 2020. "Occupational Risk Evaluation through Infrared Thermography: Development and Proposal of a Rapid Screening Tool for Risk Assessment Arising from Repetitive Actions of the Upper Limbs," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(10), pages 1-19, May.
    2. Wisanti Laohaudomchok & Wantanee Phanprasit & Pajaree Konthonbut & Chaiyanun Tangtong & Penpatra Sripaiboonkij & Tiina M. Ikäheimo & Jouni J. K. Jaakkola & Simo Näyhä, 2023. "Self-Assessed Threshold Temperature for Cold among Poultry Industry Workers in Thailand," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-21, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:14:y:2017:i:8:p:838-:d:105972. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.