Heart rate and work pulses of two age groups associated with working in the cold at +3°C and −24°C

Abstract

Due to increasing sales numbers, the production and distribution of frozen food, as well as working in the deep cold, are becoming more and more important. Nevertheless, there are only a few investigations into the effects of working in the cold on humans. Order-picking in a cold environment at approximately −24°C represents a high workload and even when wearing suitable cold protective clothing leads to exceptionally high strain. At least hypothetically, also varying physical strain of younger and older employees could be expected. Therefore, evaluation methods were developed and applied for the quantification of the physiological responses of two age-groups to working in the cold. The results of heart rate measurements while working at +3°C and −24°C are presented.