Recommendations to Improve Employee Thermal Comfort When Working in 40°F Refrigerated Cold Rooms

Background: Cold rooms for food storage and preparation and are usually kept around 40°F following food safety guidelines. Some food preparation employees may spend 8 or more hours inside cold rooms but may not be aware of the risks associated with moderately cold temperatures, dampness, and limited ventilation. Moderately cold work conditions are not well covered in current occupational health and safety guidelines or educational materials.

Objective: Characterize work conditions of cold room employees and provide recommendations to improve thermal comfort and prevent health and safety problems.

Methods: We spoke with and observed employees in two cold rooms at an airline catering facility, reviewed daily temperature logs, and evaluated employee’s physical activity, work and rest schedules, and protective clothing use. We measured temperature, relative humidity, and air velocities at work stations inside the cold rooms.

Results: Employee’s thermal comfort concerns were influenced by air drafts at workstations, insufficient use of personal protective equipment due to dexterity demands of their food preparation work, and lack of knowledge about good health and safety practices in cold rooms. We measured some air drafts that exceeded recommended guidelines.

Conclusions: Recommendations included redesigning air deflectors, installing suspended baffles to change air patterns, providing more options on personal protective equipment, changing out of wet clothing, providing hand warmers, and educating employees on cold stress. There is a need for guidelines and educational materials tailored to employees in moderately cold environments to improve thermal comfort and prevent health and safety problems.