Very Cold and Very Hot Industry Hazards - Literature review Example

Very Cold and Very Hot Industry Hazards Very cold and Very Hot Industry Hazards According to Mager , a cold work place is described by the conditions that cause more than normal heat loss. Temperatures between 18-20°C would be considered cold. Cold work constitutes various industrial and occupational activities. In the food industry, they require to work under cold atmosphere that range between 2-8°C for fresh foods and below -25°C for frozen foods. Employees are working in freezing rooms or cold rooms useful in maintaining food and other preservatives fresh encounter numerous challenges in the course of executing their tasks. Workers get exposed to a number of hazards that may lead to various injuries or health effects. They are collectively known as cold stress. Individuals working above 115°F temperature level work at extreme temperatures toxic to the individual and the surrounding environment. Incinerators have a minimum combustion temperature of 800°C. Physical and safety hazards According to Brumach pp.7 (2003), cold storage facilities experience huge traffic incidences. There is constant movement of vehicles, forklifts, workers and other mobile plants equipment. Such poses a significant movement management issues in the cold rooms as the vehicles and pedestrians use the same aisles, doorways and roadways. The low temperatures and the movement of forklifts and truck loads may make the floor wet and slippery. Such a work environment may prove to be unfavorable to workers, as the floor leaves them vulnerable to accidental falls, which may be fatal. The cold conditions also may dampen visibility especially for people who wear glasses. The inadequate level of visibility may also be due to poorly designed and positioning of lighting in work environment or blind spots created by the storage of product pallets next to the roadways that impair their vision and, as a result, endangers their movement in the cold room. Poorly maintained plant machinery e.g. forklifts may not be with seat belts, this exposes employees to the danger of falling over in case of emergency braking (Mager, 1998). Forklifts may also not be inspected and tested thus their suitability for work environment reduces. Employees also have no experience and lack professional training to drive the forklifts, employers use on job training on the use of machinery thus may pose a danger to other employees when driving around the storage zone. Some equipment lacks adequate guarding or risk control mechanisms to prevent access to dangerous parts of the equipment in case operations fail. The workplace may also be laden with poorly designed racking system which may be poorly designed thus prove unsuitable for storage purposes. Poor racking systems cave in under pressure of not handling weight exerted by the products placed on them. It poses a high physical risk especially if the workers are loading and the racks give way and collapse causing injuries and irreparable damage. Some racks may also be overloaded or exceed the manufacturer’s specified weight and height for racking. Poorly designed staging areas is also a physical hazard, this is because there is no physical separation between workers and forklift movement zones. Forklifts have no designated areas for loading and unloading consignments and neither do they have designated roadways. This result to crowding that may not be safe for those working in the cold rooms. Unsuitable loading ramps may be poorly constructed and are not of enough capacity for vehicles and thus become a physical hazard as they may trip workers. Manual handling of various activities such as, loading and unloading may result in a body disorder known as, musculoskeletal disorders (MSD).At the worker level musculoskeletal symptoms such as pain were reported at temperatures below 10°C. Work concerned musculoskeletal disease involves the tendons, nerves, muscles and supporting structures. Musculoskeletal disorders include carpal tunnel syndrome, tension neck syndrome, peritendinitis and tenosynovitis (Mager 1998). Associated symptoms include neck and knees pains, shoulder pains, lower back swelling, movement limitations, paresthesia and general muscle weakness. It is that cold storage work conditions may increase the chances and possible severity of musculoskeletal disorder due to the heavy lifting, packing and unpacking, bending the back sideways or forward. The lifting of loads exerts body force if done in an awkward position and for long duration results to increased stress on bone injuries. Cold storage industries also experience extreme noise generated from the refrigerators and hazardous conditions. Employees who are exposed to loud noise may develop a hearing impairment which may ultimately affect their sensory mechanism to hearing thus may e required to use a hearing aid and to some extent some became deaf. Hazardous atmosphere is by emission of carbon (II) oxide emitted from the petroleum forklifts and truck loads and other machineries such as freezers and chillers. Health hazards According to Mager pp 42.11 (1998), cardiovascular disorders workers who are exposed to cold working conditions for extended period risks increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Very low temperatures have been associated with myocardial infarction and congestive heart failure. Symptoms include arrhythmias and chest pains. Working in cold environments may induce vasoconstriction that may increase the peripheral resistance and central blood volume. Diabetes has also been associated with cold working areas. Diabetes is closely linked with metabolic disturbances, which affect the thermoregulation and increases chances of cooling. Cold working environments have also been associated with skin disorders such as; cold urticarias which represent hypersensitivity to cold with swelling, wheals and hives (Maibach, 2000). Sometimes they are idiopathic and at times cryoglobulins may be detected due to recent viral infection. The symptoms usually have numerous and near fatal impact on a patients feature and quality of life and maybe life threatening if large parts of the skin are vulnerable to the cold (David, 1993). According to ILO (2011), Hypothermia, this is a condition suffered by employees in cold rooms whereby they lose heat faster than the body can generate more body heat. It is as a result of continuous exposure to very low temperatures. To the extreme, hypothermia may lead to coma or death. Frostbite, this is a body condition that occurs when one’s body tissues freeze. It occurs at temperatures below 1° C especially if one wears wet clothes or is in contact with frozen food. Symptoms that accompany frostbite include numbness, pale skin, the person feels frigid then nose and ears, fingers and toes feel very immobile all in that order. According to Kulka (1965); Heller page and Shear (1993), there are three stages of cold injury. It commences with extreme vasoconstriction resulting to increased drop rate of body temperature then the transient cyclic vasodilatation by opening of arteriovenous anastomoses causing variation in rise and fall of skin temperature and if the cold exposure is further prolonged freezing occurs. Frostbite injuries may also be as a result of contact cooling when working. Other health hazards include; mental alertness becomes slow due to the cold exposure. It results to slow reaction time, low levels of concentration and time taken to perform tasks increases. Wind chill is a condition whereby the wind created by the refrigerators blows away the workers body warmth. Workers also experience numbness, immersion foot and violent shivering in cold rooms. Employees may also complain of respiratory related diseases such as; asthma, COPD, rhino rhea and pneumonia. Immersion foot or trench foot is due to prolonged exposure to low temperatures above freezing point (ILO, 2011). Chemical and biological hazards Cold rooms’ storage equipment includes refrigerators and freezers. Corrosion of pipes, seal burst, valve burst or blockages may result to emission of hazardous chemicals, such include; ammonia, carbon (IV) oxide, hydrocarbons, hydrochlorofluorocarbons and isobutene. Ammonia may result to sore throat, burning sensation to the eyes and if it comes to contact with the skin it sometimes causes skin burns. Hydrocarbons such as isobutene have effects such as, headaches, skin irritation, dizziness and frostbite. Carbon (IV) oxide causes headaches, confusion, drowsiness and contact dermatitis. Freezing rooms have a contained atmosphere thus some harmful chemicals vaporize e.g. formaldehyde. Exposure to such toxins results in respiratory and skin disorders (ILO, 2011). Inhalation of airborne chemical substances, refrigerant and exposure to them may cause corrosive burns and blistering of the skin. Prolonged exposure may result to bronchitis and other advanced respiratory diseases such as pneumonia. Employees are cryogenic liquids that are responsible for frostbite skin, tissue and eye damage asphyxiants (Maibach, Kanerva, Elsner, 2000). Hot environment Incinerators Incineration is the process of disposing of waste through burning. It produces pollutants derived mainly from three sources; they present in waste feed, then created in the combustion process then they are created by the reformation reactions in gas cooling. The pollutants are air pollution i.e. dusts particles, acidic gases, aerosols, metals and organic compounds. Harmful gases emitted include; sulfur (IV) oxide, nitrogen (IV) oxide, nitrogen (II) oxide, hydrogen chloride, hydrogen fluoride, total organic carbon and carbon (II) oxide (Stephens, Christopher, Judy, 1999). Health hazards According to the national research council workers (2007), at the incinerators are at higher risk of adverse health effects. They are exposed to toxic levels of dioxins, lead, cadmium and mercury. The emissions from the factory poses significant health challenges to the workers, more so if they are in cleaning air pollution control devices without protective gear where electrostatic precipitators and bag houses are housed. Dioxins are responsible for cancer and birth defects, heavy metals such as lead have been shown to cause carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic diseases, deadly toxicity and may affect the reproductive health eventually leading to mortality and respiratory diseases. Additional health hazards include caustic burns, hypoventilation during maintenance of fabric filters as a result of low oxygen in combustion gas. Unanticipated accidents and injuries may also occur from contact of some components of the incinerator such as, conveyer belts, hydraulic cylinders, ram feeders and ash conveyors. Workers also face the risk of possible infection from pathogens in medical waste. It can occur through handling of needles and other sharp objects before treatment. According to Stephen, Christopher and Judy (1999), incinerators emit dioxins or furans through the chimney and air leaks if it is with fuel and waste. Incineration was identified as a major source of dioxins in the early 1980s. The dioxins and furans may also be in fly ash and other dusts or other waste materials e.g. water and sludge. Dioxins are through the combustion of dissimilar no-extractable carbon structures and the formation of aryl components made from incomplete oxidation of hydrocarbon structures. Their emission is reliant on several factors which include; the organic elements of the waste, (ammonia, sulfur), the combustion process (availability of oxygen, temperature etc.) and the efficiency of the air pollution control devices. Analysis using biological measurements as standard indicators to exposure to emissions by the incinerators showed blood lead levels were high in incinerator workers, in New York. Another study also revealed organic substances such as benzene and polychlorinated biphenyls in the blood and urine of workers. Physical and safety hazards According to Rand, Haukohl, Maxwell (2000), incinerators produce huge noises due to the operation of blowers, pumps and ignition of fuels within the combustion chamber. Such noise levels affect persons responsible for the operation the equipment because workers may be annoyed, startled and distracted. Excessive noise may result to physical damage to the ears, pain and eventually lead to permanent hearing loss. Noise also interferes with communication that may increase the possibility of an accident due to one’s inability to warn in case of danger. Noise from the incinerator not only affects the workers, but also the community living around the factory unit. If accidents happen e.g. if incinerators that run on rotary kilns are not properly maintained and are allowed to heat the resultant heat usually build up increasing pressure and finally burst and end up releasing waste and sludge causing environmental destruction. Incinerators also operate on combustible fuel such as petrol a small leak may be catastrophic and may end up causing unimaginable damage. If the systems work on electrical system outdoor, workers may be exposed to electrocution. If specifications are not on the amount of waste the incinerator can accommodate at a go, slight error or negligence by employees result in the release of waste chemical vapors in the work environment. Incinerators that are haphazardly designed may corrode to a level of failure to work and may cause damage to the facilities. The ash produced as a consequence of the burning may end up burning the workers. Equipment meant for moving waste such as belts, conveyors also can potentially harm workers especially if clothes are. Chemical and biological hazard A chemical hazard is as a result of exposure to harmful gases in the course of executing tasks. Workers who carry out maintenance works on the incinerator may be exposed to waste by-products as they clean or inspect it. When in operation and burning the waste workers at times fail to wear protective gas masks thus putting themselves at risk of inhaling toxic elements from the burning waste. Toxic by-products such as dioxins are during this process among other hosts of pollutants (U.S congress, 1993). According to Travis & Cook pp. 108 (1989) stack gases and other organic compounds and heavy metals emission, numerous chemicals, are emitted through stack gases. Lead and cadmium are in the form of stack gases. They are persistence and exert a wide range of adverse effects on one’s health. Incinerators also emit particulate matter in the atmosphere. The particulate matter is ultrafine in size; due to this nature they pose a high risk to the heath of workers as they can reach the deepest regions of the lungs. Fly ashes in the incinerators from air filtration equipment also may contain hazardous chemical agents of heavy metals. According to Thomas C. Shevory (2007), the grassroots struggle against the WTI incinerator, he argues that the release of polychlorinated hydrocarbons, dioxins and PCBs from harmful waste incinerators, changes in sex ratios favoring female births to male births. However, is only one research that has attempted to study and determine if any relationship exists between proof incinerator and sex ratio, research conducted in Germany found increased frequency of twins among women who resided near incinerator. Extreme working conditions (hot or cold) pose serious threats to the health of the workers. Organizations in the food industry that operate freezing rooms should come up with measures to ensure that employees are not exposed to the extreme freezing conditions, they include; proper store arrangement to avoid blind spots caused by poor arrangement of racks, construct human and forklift pathways to avoid unnecessary accident, provision of protective wear to caution against the cold atmosphere and insulation of electrical appliances e.g. refrigerators and freezers. Incinerator companies should provide workers with protective wear and ensure that toxic gases are not released to the environment. References Brumach M., Industrial maintenance, 2003. Pp. 7 David P. Deeter, Disease and the environment, 1993. U.S. Goran, Granberg, Ingvar (ILO), cold environment and cold work, 2011. Jean Mager S, Encyclopedia of occupation health and safety: chemical industries and safety fourth edition, 1998. L. Kanerva, P. Elsner, J.E Wahlberg, H.I Maibach, Handbook of occupational dermatology, 2000. Megan Landon, Environment, health and sustainable development, first edition, 2006. National research council, Waste Incineration and public health, 2000. Rand T., Haukohl J. Marxen, Municipal solid waste incineration, 2000. Stephen M., Christopher M., Judy A., Hazardous waste incineration, 1999. Pp 24-49. Taye A, Wynne E, Emerson B, Biles T and Keshishian C, Chemical leaks from refrigerators, 2000. Thomas S., Toxic Burn: The grassroots struggle against the WTI incinerator, 2007. Travis C., Cook S., Hazardous waste incineration and Human Health. 1989 pp 108-109. U.S congress, office of Technology assessment, Hazards ahead: Managing cleanup, worker health and safety at nuclear weapons complex, 1993. Read More