It is very obvious that working in the cold environment is more dangerous than the same type of work in a warmer climate. Physical, manual and cognitive performance and body cooling are closely related to each other. Not only physiological functions and reaction times of individuals are slower when they are in cold, but also heavy clothing interferes with movements, perception and sensations 1,2) . Often also problems of psychological adjustment occur because of the cold and darkness that is common to winter operations in cold regions. It has been shown that persons exposed to such conditions tend to show general unfavourable trends such as increased depression, dissatisfaction, insomnia and lack of motivation 3) . Since mechanical systems are not functioning well in cold, it is more risky to work with them. Very often also darkness, wind and slippery ground increase the hazards of cold working environments. Because of that, special safety precautions, prevention means and risk management are needed to avoid accidents and disasters in cold work places. In addition the productivity could be increased by improving cold working environment 3) .In Finland there are more than 500,000 people who have experienced cold to affect harmfully in their work environment 4,5) . About 300,000 people, working in cold conditions indoors, have perceived cold as especially or rather inconvenient. In spite of the large number of people suffering from cold exposure, the effect of cold has not received enough attention and there are no specific recommendations or orders regulating the cold exposure and the health hazards of cold 6) . Emphasis on the pre- Abstract: The questions related to safety at work in cold environments and prevention of cold stress in working life are described in this article. Working in the cold environment is more dangerous than the same type of work in a warmer climate. All researchers have concluded that the frequency of accidents/versus temperature curves follow the U-shape with the minimum near 20˚C. The effects of low temperature can be divided into direct, typically frostbites, and indirect, of which the indirect effects, typically slipping accidents, are more common. In improving risk management in cold conditions the risk evaluation based on existing standards is the starting point. Prevention of risks in cold environments can be done by planning of work, technical measures like heating or reduction of cooling by protective clothing, training and other measures. Local heaters, shelters against bad weather, reduction of draught are good examples of means of improving working conditions and reducing accident risks. The local IR-heaters can increase skin temperature of fingers about 7˚C in normal cold work. The improvement of 3˚C can be reached by using insulating material in the handle of tools. By using these technical improvements we can reduce the health risks but also improve work performance and even energy savings at work places.
The study included an inquiry and clinical examination of 443 reindeer herders (mean age 43 years) who frequently used noisy tools and vehicles, in particular snowmobiles and chain-saws. Age-adjusted hearing thresholds at 3 and 4 kHz deteriorated significantly with increased exposure to noise. There was the dose-response relationship between the amount of smoking and the impairment of hearing acuity when exposure time to noise was used as covariance. The amount of smoking was not significant until very heavy smoking (more than 144,000 cigarettes, i.e. 20 cigarettes/day for more than 20 years), and no smoking effect could be seen using the classification of current smoking habits. The results support the practice that screening of hearing acuity should be repeated more often in smokers than in non-smokers in noisy work so that hearing damage can be found in an incipient stage and noise-induced hearing loss effectively prevented.
The possible effects of occupational noise on human pregnancy were examined in a case-control study. The case groups consisted of 284 women with premature deliveries and of 299 women with full-term, low birth weight infants (below the 25th centile), each case having a matched pair. The whole material, all cases and controls included, comprised 1166 women. The percentage of employment in the whole material was 77.8; there were no differences between the case women and their controls. Rather few women (N = 26; 3.5%) reported occupational noise (greater than or equal to 81 dB; Leq(A)8h) during their pregnancies and our study revealed no significant difference between the cases (N = 14) and the controls (N = 12) with regard to noise exposure. Because of the small number of exposed women conclusions have to be drawn carefully. Nevertheless, noise cannot be regarded as a major risk for prematurity or low birth weight of human newborns in Finnish society. The women with reported noise exposure had significantly more inconvenience at work than other working women. They also had significantly more numerous and longer sick leaves than other working women.
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