Background: The assessment of heat stress in the ceramic industry is a matter of great concern for safety and health of workers. For this purpose working conditions in the last two decades are analysed.
Objective: To study occupational hot thermal environments in the Portuguese ceramic activity sector in 8 industrial units and 21 workplaces.
Methods: In order to characterise the level of heat exposure, the method proposed by ISO 7243 (1989) based on the Wet-Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) index was adopted.
Results: Two field surveys, one carried out in 1994 and the other in 2012 are considered. The WBGT mean values varied between 23.7 and 37.8°C in the 1994 survey while in 2012 those values ranged from 21.5 to 30.5°C. In the 1994 evaluations 5 out of 8 (62.5%) of the workplaces present heat stress conditions whereas in the 2012 assessments the corresponding value is 46.2% (6 out of 13 workplaces).
Conclusions: Despite two decades between the two surveys, the results highlight that the overall thermal conditions of the workplaces in the ceramic sector are still quite similar, suggesting that the working conditions have not changed enough, a conclusion that asks for further analysis and improvements.
Keywords: Health and safety; WBGT index; ceramics; heat stress; industrial units.