Metabolic energy cost of workers in agriculture, construction, manufacturing, tourism, and transportation industries

Konstantina P. POULIANITI, George HAVENITH, Andreas D. FLOURIS
2018 Industrial Health  
25 The assessment of energy cost (EC) at the workplace remains a key topic in occupational 26 health due to the ever-increasing prevalence of work-related issues. This review provides a 27 detailed list of EC estimations in jobs/tasks included in tourism, agriculture, construction, 28 manufacturing, and transportation industries. A total of 61 studies evaluated the EC of 1667 29 workers while performing a large number of tasks related to each one of the aforementioned five 30 industries.
more » ... ture includes the most energy-demanding jobs (males: 6.0±2.5 kcal/min; 31 females: 2.9±1.0 kcal/min). Jobs in the construction industry were the 2 nd most demanding 32 (males: 4.9±1.6 kcal/min; no data for females). The industry with the 3 rd highest EC estimate 33 was manufacturing (males: 3.8±1.1 kcal/min; females: 3.0±1.3 kcal/min). Transportation 34 presented relatively moderate EC estimates (males: 3.1±1.0 kcal/min; no data for females). 35 Tourism jobs demonstrated the lowest EC values (2.5±0.9 kcal/min for males and females). It is 36 hoped that this information will aid the development of future instruments and guidelines aiming 37 to protect workers' health, safety, and productivity. Future research should provide updated EC 38 estimates within a wide spectrum of occupational settings taking into account the sex, age, and 39 physiological characteristics of the workers as well as the individual characteristics of each 40 workplace. 41 42 Note: 1 = kcal/min was converted into Watts using the formula 1kcal/min = 69.78 Watts.
doi:10.2486/indhealth.2018-0075 pmid:30058597 fatcat:kzy7nhiuuvhpdfhx7ow6toezai