EVALUATION OF THERMO-HYGRIC MICROCLIMATE PARAMETERS IN THE WORK ENVIRONMENT

Thermo-hygric microclimate evaluation and planning is important for improving quality of work environment and protecting employees’ health. The thermo-hygric microclimate objective evaluation is performed by measuring its physical parameters. It is a part of a comprehensive microclimate of internal environment. This article introduces elementary thermo-hygric parameters and their measurement and evaluation methods and informs about sources of their limit values. Human body emits its own metabolic heat and affects the final body temperature therefore it is necessary to know what the emitted amount is. There is also information about recommended ways to determine human’s emitted metabolic heat in this article

APPLICATION OF MULTIDIMENSIONAL STATISTICAL METHODS FOR THE AIR QUALITY EVALUATION IN THE VICINITY OF A STRATEGIC PLANT

The worsening condition of the environment on various levels of devastations in various regions negatively shares both the health of the population and the general quality of the entire ecosystem. The air pollution is the cause of hundred of thousands of deaths of Europeans per year and millions of people in the world. At present we are breathing the air polluted by the power industry, the traffic, the waste disposal or the agriculture. The monitoring of the environment is one of the important tools detecting the state of the environment. Only the complex monitoring of the environment system enables the objective knowledge of the state of the environment basic components influenced by human being as well as the real establishment of the development tendencies and the effective measures improving the state of the environment. This paper deals with the air quality assurance applied through the selected multidimensional statistical methods in the vicinity of the important plant in the East Slovakia. In the analysis of the air quality were applied methods: method of principal components analysis, cluster analysis and the multidimensional comparison methods. The level of the air quality was described by five contaminations substances: CO, SO2, NO2, O3 and PM10. The monitored areas have a low level of air polluted by air quality index. The results of the cluster analysis indicated that three monitored areas (Veľká Ida, Sokoľany and Seňa) have similar characteristics of selected air quality indicators and they are forming one cluster. The results of the multidimensional comparison methods pointed to the fact that localita Velka Ida is the area with the highest air pollution

Kvaliteta radnog okoliša: pregled trenutnog stanja u republici Slovačkoj

For the individual and for society, human life and health are great values, which are often particularly difficult or impossible to measure, though they are irreplaceable values. Even in the oldest historical stages of the development and life of society, many important doctors and scientists were interested in the social aspects of health care, e.g. Hippocrates, Aristotle, Avicenna. Paracelsus († 1541, Swiss philosopher and physician) and Georgius Agricola († 1555, German chemist and mineralogist). Based on their own experience gained from daily contact with workers and their working environment, they examined disorders caused by the harmful factors of the working environment and working processes. The ever-changing world of work increasingly brings new risks into working processes, which are directly related to the work performed by employees. As part of the EU-OSHA (European Agency for Safety and Health at Work) strategy to increase health and safety at work, the European Risk Observatory called on EU Member States to improve the detection of these risks in the working environment. Considering the above, the authors of this article have set themselves the goal of mapping the current situation in the area of the creation, protection and quality management of the working environment. They describe general requirements for protecting occupational health and safety, mainly in Slovakia. They are convinced that current developments present the need to know as much as possible about the living and working environments, to have a thorough knowledge of working conditions and all the factors that affect the health of employees, to know and choose assessment procedures to reduce the negative effects of these factors to a minimum. It is important that we keep in mind that healthy working conditions are among the most valuable assets of individuals, communities and nations.Za pojedinca i za društvo u cjelini ljudski život i zdravlje velike su vrijednosti koje je često posebno teško ili nemoguće izmjeriti, premda su nezamjenjive vrijednosti. Čak i u najstarijim povijesnim fazama razvoja i života društva, mnoge su važne liječnike i znanstvenike zanimali socijalni aspekti zdravstvene zaštite, npr. Hipokrat, Aristotel, Avicena, Paracelsus († 1541., švicarski filozof i liječnik) i Georgius Agricola († 1555., njemački kemičar i mineralog). Na temelju vlastitog iskustva stečenog svakodnevnim kontaktima s radnicima i njihovom radnom okolinom, ispitivali su poremećaje uzrokovane štetnim čimbenicima radne okoline i radnih procesa. Stalno promijenjivi svijet rada sve više donosi nove rizike u radne procese koji su izravno povezani s poslom koji obavljaju zaposlenici. Kao dio strategije EU-OSHA (Europska agencija za sigurnost i zdravlje na radu) za povećanje zdravlja i sigurnosti na radu, Europski opservatorij za rizike pozvao je države članice EU-a da poboljšaju otkrivanje tih rizika u radnom okolišu. S obzirom na navedeno, autori ovog članka postavili su si cilj mapiranja trenutne situacije na području stvaranja, zaštite i upravljanja kvalitetom radne okoline. Oni opisuju opće zahtjeve za zaštitu zdravlja i sigurnosti na radu, uglavnom u Slovačkoj. Uvjereni su da trenutna zbivanja predstavljaju potrebu da se što više zna o životnom i radnom okolišu, da se temeljito poznaju radni uvjeti i svi čimbenici koji utječu na zdravlje zaposlenika, da se znaju i odaberu postupci procjene kako bi se smanjili negativni učinci ovih čimbenika na najmanju moguću mjeru. Važno je imati na umu da su zdravi uvjeti rada među najcjenjenijim dobrom pojedinaca, zajednica i nacija

Kvalita osvětlení a hodnocení zrakové pohody na pracovišti

The contribution deals with the evaluation of illumination of work in the manufacturing organization. The evaluation was performed by questionnaire survey and objectivised by measuring. The object of the investigation were all the staff who were willing to participate in an anonymous survey valuation visual comfort at your workplace. For the evaluation of the questionnaires were used basic statistical methods and evaluation methods of qualitative data

Kvalita osvětlení a hodnocení zrakové pohody na pracovišti

The contribution deals with the evaluation of illumination of work in the manufacturing organization. The evaluation was performed by questionnaire survey and objectivised by measuring. The object of the investigation were all the staff who were willing to participate in an anonymous survey valuation visual comfort at your workplace. For the evaluation of the questionnaires were used basic statistical methods and evaluation methods of qualitative data

Analysis of the Impact of Working Environment Factors on Employee’s Health and Wellbeing; Workplace Lighting Design Evaluation and Improvement

In modern society, humans spend most of their time in the indoor environment (home, work, school...). This indoor lifestyle constantly poses challenges to our physical and mental health by affecting our hormone levels and circadian rhythm. This article deals with the possible connection between human and working environment factors and the emergence of health problems in connection with work. Using statistical methods, the dependence between the six characteristics (age, length of employment, visual demand of the work task, satisfaction with lighting conditions, and shift work) and occurrence of health-related problems and discomfort (i.e., eye discomfort, headache, eye fatigue, and seasonal affective disorder symptoms) was examined. The paper also deals with the evaluation of lighting conditions in the workshop using the lighting design software DIALux evo 9.2. Using this software, two lighting variants were modeled. The first simulated variant included lighting parameters according to the currently used luminaries and the second variant contained more efficient LED luminaries

APPLICATION OF MULTIDIMENSIONAL STATISTICAL METHODS FOR THE AIR QUALITY EVALUATION IN THE VICINITY OF A STRATEGIC PLANT

The worsening condition of the environment on various levels of devastations in various regions negatively shares both the health of the population and the general quality of the entire ecosystem. The air pollution is the cause of hundred of thousands of deaths of Europeans per year and millions of people in the world. At present we are breathing the air polluted by the power industry, the traffic, the waste disposal or the agriculture. The monitoring of the environment is one of the important tools detecting the state of the environment. Only the complex monitoring of the environment system enables the objective knowledge of the state of the environment basic components influenced by human being as well as the real establishment of the development tendencies and the effective measures improving the state of the environment. This paper deals with the air quality assurance applied through the selected multidimensional statistical methods in the vicinity of the important plant in the East Slovakia. In the analysis of the air quality were applied methods: method of principal components analysis, cluster analysis and the multidimensional comparison methods. The level of the air quality was described by five contaminations substances: CO, SO2, NO2, O3 and PM10. The monitored areas have a low level of air polluted by air quality index. The results of the cluster analysis indicated that three monitored areas (Veľká Ida, Sokoľany and Seňa) have similar characteristics of selected air quality indicators and they are forming one cluster. The results of the multidimensional comparison methods pointed to the fact that localita Velka Ida is the area with the highest air pollution

Approaches to the Evaluation of Thermal-Hygric Microclimatic Conditions in Selected Manufacturing Organizations

Attention was paid to the theoretical and empirical aspects of the evaluation of the thermal-hygric microclimate parameters of the working environment and their impact on the employees. The evaluation included questionnaire research, which involved two main areas: 1. Thermal-hygric microclimate conditions in the workplace; 2. Health problems of employees related to workplace conditions. The research was participated in by 200 employees working in manufacturing mechanical engineering organizations. The entry criterion for inclusion in the data set was the good health of the respondent, not suffering from serious health problems. The results of the evaluation showed that there is a statistically significant dependence between some of the monitored characteristics: between the age of the employee and the occurrence of monitored health problems (headache, feeling cold, spine pain), as well as between the work done and the satisfaction with the humidity of the workplace or with a feeling of dry nasal mucosa. The results of the questionnaire survey also showed a significant dependence between the type of manufacturing organization and the thermal and humidity conditions in the workplace or the occurrence of respondents' health problems. In addition, a moderately positive relationship was found between thermal-hygric microclimatic conditions and the feeling of fatigue and headaches (or feeling of cold symptoms, spinal pain, and dry nasal mucous membrane). When evaluating the questionnaire research, statistical methods were used to monitor categorical dependence

Influence of Air Humidity Level on the Structure and Mechanical Properties of Thermoplastic Starch-Montmorillonite Nanocomposite during Storage

Thermoplastic starch (TPS) consisting of corn starch and glycerol as a plasticizer, and TPS-montmorillonite (MMT) nanocomposite were stored at room temperature in the air with relative humidities (RH) of 11, 55 and 85% for seven weeks. Mechanical testing and dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) were performed to detect changes in their mechanical properties. Solid-state NMR spectroscopy monitoring the changes in molecular mobility in the samples provided an insight into relations between mechanical properties and local structure. The results of mechanical testing indicated that the addition of MMT results in the increase in the tensile strength and Young’s modulus while elongation at break decreased, indicating the reinforcing effect of MMT. DMTA experiments revealed a decrease in glass transition temperature of starch-rich phase below room temperature for samples stored at higher RH (55 and 85%). This indicates that absorbed water molecules had additional plasticizing effect on starch resulting in higher mobility of starch chain segments. Recrystallization in these samples was deduced from the shape of cross-polarization magic-angle spinning 13C NMR spectra. The shape of broad-line 1H NMR spectra reflected changes in molecular mobility in the studied samples during seven weeks of storage and revealed that a high amount of water molecules impacts the starch intermolecular hydrogen bond density