Leonidas G Ioannou, Lydia Tsoutsoubi, Konstantinos Mantzios, Georgios Gkikas, Gerasimos Agaliotis, Yiannis Koutedakis, David García-León, George Havenith, Jack Liang, Costas Arkolakis, Jason Glaser, Glen P Kenny, Igor B Mekjavic, Lars Nybo, Andreas D Flouris
{"title":"The impact of workplace heat and cold on work time loss.","authors":"Leonidas G Ioannou, Lydia Tsoutsoubi, Konstantinos Mantzios, Georgios Gkikas, Gerasimos Agaliotis, Yiannis Koutedakis, David García-León, George Havenith, Jack Liang, Costas Arkolakis, Jason Glaser, Glen P Kenny, Igor B Mekjavic, Lars Nybo, Andreas D Flouris","doi":"10.1097/JOM.0000000000003332","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Abstract: </strong>Objective: We investigated the impact of workplace heat and cold on work time loss. Methods: Field experiments in different industrial sectors were conducted in multiple countries across all seasons between 2016 and 2024. Hundreds of workers were video-recorded and their full shifts (n = 603) were analyzed on a second-by-second basis (n = 16,065,501 sec). Environmental data were recorded using portable weather stations. The Workplace Environmental Labor Loss (WELL) functions were developed to describe work time loss due to workplace temperature. Results: The WELL functions revealed a U-shaped relationship whereby the least work time loss is observed at 18 °C (64 °F), and increases for every degree above or below this optimal temperature. Conclusions: The WELL functions quantify the impact of workplace temperature on work time loss, extending to temperatures previously believed to be unaffected.</p>","PeriodicalId":94100,"journal":{"name":"Journal of occupational and environmental medicine","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2025-02-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of occupational and environmental medicine","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1097/JOM.0000000000003332","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Abstract: Objective: We investigated the impact of workplace heat and cold on work time loss. Methods: Field experiments in different industrial sectors were conducted in multiple countries across all seasons between 2016 and 2024. Hundreds of workers were video-recorded and their full shifts (n = 603) were analyzed on a second-by-second basis (n = 16,065,501 sec). Environmental data were recorded using portable weather stations. The Workplace Environmental Labor Loss (WELL) functions were developed to describe work time loss due to workplace temperature. Results: The WELL functions revealed a U-shaped relationship whereby the least work time loss is observed at 18 °C (64 °F), and increases for every degree above or below this optimal temperature. Conclusions: The WELL functions quantify the impact of workplace temperature on work time loss, extending to temperatures previously believed to be unaffected.