Thermography in ergonomic assessment: a study of wood processing industry workers

Soranso, Denise Ransolin; Minette, Luciano José; Marçal, Marcio Alves; Marins, João Carlos Bouzas; Schettino, Stanley; Lima, Roldão Carlos Andrade; Oliveira, Michel Picanço

doi:10.7717/peerj.13973

Cited by 6 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Prolonged sitting poses a potential health risk to the musculoskeletal system of employees [ 26 ]. By monitoring changes in skin temperature across working muscles, IRT can help identify potential ergonomic risks and areas for improvement within the work environment [ 27 ]. While IRT provides an indirect measure of the thermal radiation of the body, it offers valuable insights into how the workplace impacts the body and potential areas of overload.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Active Breaks Reduce Back Overload during Prolonged Sitting: Ergonomic Analysis with Infrared Thermography

Sortino,

Trovato,

Zanghì

et al. 2024

JCM

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Background: Prolonged sitting is a potential risk factor for musculoskeletal disorders in office workers. This study aims to evaluate the effect of active breaks on reducing muscle overload in subjects who sit for long periods using infrared thermography (IRT). Methods: A sample of 57 office workers participated in this study and were divided into two groups: active breaks (ABs) and no active breaks (NABs). The NAB group sat continuously for 90 min without standing up, while the AB group performed stretching and mobility exercises every 30 min. IRT measurements were taken every 30 min before the active breaks. Results: The results highlight that the skin temperature of the back increased significantly in both groups after 30 min of sitting; however, in the subsequent measurements, the AB group showed a decrease in temperature, while the NAB group maintained a high temperature. Exercise and time point of measurement all reported p-values < 0.001; there were no statistically significant differences between the Δt0-1 of the NAB and AB groups, while the Δt1-2 and Δt1-3 of the NAB and AB groups showed statistically significant differences for all back regions. Conclusions: The clinical relevance of this study confirms the negative effects of prolonged sitting on the health of the back, demonstrating that active breaks can reduce back strain, emphasizing the need for workplace interventions. In addition, IRT represents a non-invasive method to assess back muscle overload and monitor the effectiveness of interventions in all categories of workers who maintain a prolonged sitting position. The main limitation of this study is the absence of a questionnaire for the assessment of back pain, which does not allow a direct correlation between temperature changes and back pain outcomes.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Active Breaks Reduce Back Overload during Prolonged Sitting: Ergonomic Analysis with Infrared Thermography

Sortino,

Trovato,

Zanghì

et al. 2024

JCM

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“…The authors [ 16 ] highlight that studying the influence of forest fires and their spatiotemporal trends, associated with climatic factors, is extremely relevant for the conservation of biological and water resources in the Amazon Forest, especially in the state of Pará, where the highest values of deforestation of the Legal Amazon. Furthermore, fires can change the local microclimate, affecting the health of forestry workers in these regions [ 17 , 18 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is there a relationship between forest fires and deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon?

Furtado Lima,

Pereira Torres,

Minette

et al. 2024

PLoS ONE

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The Brazilian Legal Amazon is an extensive territory in which different factors influence the dynamics of forest fires. Currently, the Brazilian government has two tools in the public domain and free of charge, PRODES and BDQueimadas, to monitor and make decisions to combat deforestation and forest fires. This work aimed to evaluate and correlate the forest fire alerts and deforestation in the Amazon Forest in the state of Pará. The analyses were based on carrying out a diagnosis of forest fires and deforestation; the behavior of forest fires and deforestation over the last twenty years; the statistical relationship between deforestation and forest fires and their spatialization. This work identified that Pará is the state in the Legal Amazon with the highest occurrence of forest fires and deforestation. Deforestation in the four-year period Jan/2003-Dec/2006 showed a higher rate compared to the four-year periods Jan/2011-Dec/2018. A high correlation was found between forest fire alerts and increases in deforestation. There is a spatial relationship between cities with greater increases in deforestation and high numbers of fire alerts. In relation to the occurrence of forest fires and deforestation, the south of the state was the most critical region and the north had lower rates.

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“…In this system, trees are felled using self-propelled forest machines called feller bunchers. Then, the wood is extracted from inside the stands to the edges of forest roads with the self-propelled forestry machine grapple skidder and, finally, the wood is processed by the grapple saw [1][2][3][4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimal Forest Road Density as Decision-Making Factor in Wood Extraction

Simões

Cavalcante

Lima

et al. 2022

Forests

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Forest road construction projects mainly depend on factors related to terrain physiography, watershed, and wood harvesting. In the whole tree system, wood extraction is the activity most impacted by the density of forest roads, influencing the extraction distance. One of the alternatives is the optimal forest road density approach, which allows for the minimization of wood extraction costs and the optimization of the productive area. Given the above, the objective of this study was to analyze whether the optimal forest road density in areas of forests planted with eucalyptus allows for maximum productivity and the lowest cost of the road-wood extraction binomial in a whole tree system. The technical and economic analysis of wood extraction was based on the study of time, operational efficiency, productivity, and the cost of wood extraction with a grapple skidder. For the optimal forest road density, the cost of the wood extraction activity was considered, as well as the cost of construction, reconstruction, and maintenance of roads. In addition, the cost of a loss of productive area and the cost of excess forest roads were weighted. The optimal forest road density was 30.49 m ha−1 for an average extraction distance of 81.99 m, with the cost of loss of productive area of 0.49 USD m³ and the excess road of 80.19 m, which represented a cost of 978.31 USD ha−1. It is concluded that the optimal forest road density allows for the identification of excess forest roads, allowing for a reduction in the total cost for the implementation of roads. Therefore, it can be considered an essential variable in the planning of the forest road network, providing improvements in productivity and the costs of wood extraction with a grapple skidder.

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Thermography in ergonomic assessment: a study of wood processing industry workers

Cited by 6 publications

References 35 publications

Active Breaks Reduce Back Overload during Prolonged Sitting: Ergonomic Analysis with Infrared Thermography

Active Breaks Reduce Back Overload during Prolonged Sitting: Ergonomic Analysis with Infrared Thermography

Is there a relationship between forest fires and deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon?

Optimal Forest Road Density as Decision-Making Factor in Wood Extraction

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