Thermal Comfort in Locomotives: Heat Measurements in a Brazilian Iron Ore Railway
Iron ore is the most important product exported by Brazilian mines and the railway system plays a very vital role in the iron ore industry. Annually,hundreds of million net tons of iron ore are transported over many railways. Trains of more than 160 wagons are pulled by powerful diesel-electric engines locomotives along the railways and they may take several hours or even days to accomplish their task. Most of the Brazilian iron ore mines and their transportation network are located in tropical areas (North,West-Central and Southeast) with rugged topography that slow down the trip to the port. In addition,the locomotives cabins are most of the time very close to the engines and have none or little control over the temperature. As a matter of fact,temperature is an indicator of heat at the workplace and high temperatures upset the normal body function and then the body suffers from heat stress. This paper presents a study carried out-in one of the busiest iron ore railways in the central region of Brazil concerning the thermal comfort among locomotive operators. Thermal measurements were taken based on a sampling strategy with Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) and others parameters being measured in order to verify compliance to Brazilian standards. Several types of locomotives sets were studied and the results showed that the temperatures ranged considerably and some workplaces are not suitable for operators based on workers metabolisms and types of clothing. High temperatures exposition can result in mistakes,bad judgments and other symptoms that may cause accidents,injuries and heat stroke. Managing this hazard is part of the companys industrial hygiene program and this will spare operators health and save money.
Heat stress industrial hygiene iron ore transportation locomotives
W.S.IRAMINA S.M.ESTON E.C.SANSONE M.W.SCHRAGE
Mining and Petroleum Engineering Department,Polytechnic School University ofSao Paulo,Sao Paulo,Braz M.Sc,Laboratory of Environmental Control Hygiene and Safety in Mining- Polytechnic School University
国际会议
北京
英文
487-499
2008-10-20（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）