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

Adriana Seára Tirloni, Diogo Cunha dos Reis, Eliane Ramos and Antônio Renato Pereira Moro
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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
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

IJERPH, 2017, vol. 14, issue 8, 1-14

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.

Keywords: slaughterhouse; thermal sensation; workers; hands; cold (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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