Evaluación de las medidas de control y prevención para disminuir el riesgo de estrés térmico en el cuarto de máquinas de un hospital de Quito.

Abstract

The following work presents the evaluation of the prevention and control measures that were chosen as a possible alternative to reduce the risk of thermal stress in the machine room of a hospital in Quito. The objective was to determine if the material chosen to thermally insulate the heat sources was the most appropriate to reduce the temperature of the work environment. In the methodology, the hazards that affect the appearance of thermal risk were evaluated. As a result of this assessment, the resulta was that the environmental temperature exceeded the permitted limits. As a source control measure, it was proposed to cover heat-emitting surfaces with fiberglass. For the medium through which the heat travels, it was proposed to place a wall of laminated plaster with sufficient thermal resistance to prevent the passage of heat towards the transit areas of the boiler operators. The control measures at the source and in the environment were evaluated using the Energy 2D software. This program allowed simulating the thermal behavior of the insulators. Finally, a work-rest regime was proposed to know the maximum time that the worker can stay in the machine room. The conclusions were that the activity carried out by the boiler operators was light, the duration of the activities was longer than recommended, short breaks are required for each hour of work, the characteristics and properties of the proposed insulating materials allowed to decrease the temperature of the work place up to recommended levels.