Risk Assessment and Mathematical Analysis on Effect of Thermal Stress Among Employees of a Paper Industry

Work in the industrial workplace is seldom undertaken in an ideal environment and can often expose the individual to physical extremes like temparature.Workers in hot environments around dryers, boilers or out in the Sun, can be subjected to considerable heat stress. The combined effect of external thermal environment and internal metabolic heat production constitutes the thermal stress on the body. To ascertain the effect of thermal stress among employees exposed thermal environment, a study was conducted in a large integrated pulp and paper industry located in Andhra Pradesh, India. A combination of risk assessment, multiple regression and significant tests are used for identifying risk of thermal stress and also to find out the relation between risk score and body temperature, heart rate. Wet globe bulb thermometer and personal heat stress monitor are the instruments used in the study.