Workers at the factory carry out tasks in extreme cold thermal environments. Describe how workers may be exposed and the possible effects on thermal comfort.

Workers may be exposed to extreme cold temperatures while operating in blast freezers, freezer storage rooms, chilled production areas, and despatch locations within the Frozen and Fresh factory environment. Exposure can occur during handling activities, equipment maintenance, loading operations, and movement between temperature-controlled areas. These conditions may affect worker thermal comfort by causing discomfort, reduced dexterity, cold stress, fatigue, restricted movement, and difficulty carrying out tasks while wearing insulated protective clothing.

3. (a) Workers at the factory carry out tasks in extreme cold thermal environments.

2026-05-13T19:44:21+00:00

DO – CONTROLLING WORKPLACE HEALTH ISSUES

UNIT DN2:
UNIT DI2:
For: NEBOSH Level 6 Diploma for Occupational Health and Safety Management Professionals and Interview Preparation

This workplace health assessment scenario examines how operational pressures, hygiene requirements, and physically demanding activities can affect worker safety within a large food manufacturing environment.

SCENARIO (for information)

Introduction

Frozen & Fresh (FF) is a food factory. It processes and packages fresh vegetables, fruit, and salads, as well as frozen fish. These products are initially stored loose in large containers, before being processed. The factory employs 50 full-time workers who work 08:00 - 16:00, Monday - Friday. Often, production line workers also work at weekends, carrying out thorough disinfection of production line equipment. All workers are trained to work on both the processing and packaging lines for all products, as well as in the despatch area. The workers rotate between the different lines and areas throughout the day; this can be helpful, as the demand for some products increases seasonally, which can increase the workload at times. The management team includes a packaging line manager (PLM), production manager (PM) and a maintenance manager (MM). A small maintenance team work Wednesday - Sunday.

The workers process the products; this includes checking products for quality, and then packaging the products before they are sealed for freshness. Finished products are either stacked onto pallets or placed into plastic crates that are stacked into roll cages (a mobile, industrial storage container featuring a metal frame with four wheels (castors) and sides, used to securely transport goods within warehouses). Workers can also work in the despatch area, where orders are put together and loaded onto delivery vehicles.

The large production and packaging area measures 5 000m2, with a concrete floor and good lighting. The area is maintained at a temperature of no more than 8°C to preserve product safety and quality. At one end of this area, there is a walk-in blast freezer that operates at -30°C and is used to quickly freeze the fish products, before these are moved into freezer storage rooms at -20°C. The crates of finished fruit, vegetable and salad products are stored in chiller rooms maintained at 5°C. All of these temperature-controlled areas are accessed via large doors with an internal door opening mechanism, some of which freeze up from time to time. In another corner of the main area, a single door leads to a break room where workers can have a rest, make a drink, and eat food at the tables and chairs provided. At times, this room can get very busy.

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During the day, products are regularly despatched. This involves taking the products from the various temperature-controlled storage rooms to the FF delivery vehicles. Sometimes vehicles with tailgates are used, so that the pallets or roll cages can be loaded directly into the vehicles in the despatch area. At other times, vehicles have to be loaded from either side of the vehicles and this is done outside in the yard, using forklift trucks. Some customers only request small orders and so send their own vehicles to collect these crates of products. Workers in the despatch area have to load these orders into the vehicles in the yard, by hand. This is an unpopular task among workers, especially during wet and cold weather.

Cleaning chemicals

Regular cleaning and disinfection of surfaces and equipment in the food packaging areas is essential to maintain food safety and hygiene standards. Small amounts of food product frequently fall onto the floor. After initially cleaning with a suitable detergent to remove soiling, disinfection is carried out. A disinfectant called Cleanse-Quat is used for this, which is purchased in a concentrated form and diluted with water before use. The diluted product is normally applied using a cloth or mop to the hard surfaces on the food production line and the surrounding floor areas. After a short time, the Cleanse-Quat is rinsed away with cold water.

During the weekend production line shut-down, a more thorough disinfection is carried out. Cleanse-Quat is used in its undiluted form, and applied by spraying. At the same time, some internal components of the production equipment, that are difficult to reach during the regular cleaning, are removed from the production line. These components are disinfected by immersing them in a 25-litre open tank containing the undiluted Cleanse-Quat. After some time, these components are removed from the tank and excess Cleanse-Quat is wiped away using cloths. The components are then rinsed with cold water several times before re-assembling them on the production line.

Moving packed products around the factory

The inside of the factory is a vehicle-free zone because there is not enough space for forklift trucks to operate. However, there is plenty of space to move all of the packaged products using pallet trucks and roll cages; workers are required to push and pull these around all areas of the factory throughout their shift. Some products are packed onto pallets that are then shrink-wrapped, before being moved by pallet trucks. Most products are packed into plastic crates; all of these crates are designed to be stacked into the roll cages and these crates stack together well. The roll cages are 1.85 metres in height; this means that many of the workers have to lift some crates of produce above their heads. Many of the workers have difficulty with this and ask taller workers to help them. When filled, the roll cages need a hard push to get them moving. Once the roll cages are moving they are easy to keep going in the same direction.

Most workers dislike moving the filled roll cages. They have to move these from inside the walk-in freezers across the entire production and packaging area, down a small slope to the despatch area, and onto and over the tailgate of the delivery vehicles. This work requires a lot of effort and is tiring. Those workers who have worked in the factory for some time are known to minimise the effort required to do this task by selecting the newer roll cages that are easier to move. Often, the job of moving the filled roll cages is given to the new workers.

Many of the roll cages have not been replaced for several years, and some of the wheels and brakes have started to deteriorate, making these roll cages even more difficult to move. Workers keep asking the maintenance team to fix these cages, however, maintenance are too busy.

Production activities

Workers rotate between the vegetable, fruit, and salad production, and fish production. While carrying out the processing and packaging tasks, workers stand on both sides of the production lines. Many of the workers complain of aching limbs and sore backs, especially after moving the roll cages in and out of the walk-in freezers and chiller rooms. This is not helped by the flooring in the freezers, which is textured to reduce the risk of slips.

During each shift, workers rotate between different tasks and different production lines to alleviate boredom. Workers’ breaks are scheduled by the PM at the start of each day. The timing of these can vary depending on the production schedule for product changeover, or if there is a production line equipment failure.

Workers are provided with protective gloves and FF-branded heavily-insulated clothing to wear when working in the factory. Sometimes, workers have difficulty carrying out some tasks when wearing all of the clothing provided. They also find that the touchscreens on the stock management system are not easy to use when wearing gloves. Some of the workers complain that the clothing does not fit well, as it is only available in a limited range of sizes.

Maintenance Team

The maintenance team consists of three workers: Worker X, Worker Y, and the MM. Worker X has been employed by FF for over 10 years. Worker Y joined more recently, having previously worked in vehicle maintenance for many years. When Worker Y joined, they were surprised by the lack of information provided to them about vibration exposure. They asked Worker X about this, who dismissively said that they had also never received any information, nor did they need it. The maintenance team is responsible for servicing equipment, and carrying out a preventative maintenance schedule. The maintenance workers often complain about being cold.

Preventative maintenance and some repairs on the production lines are carried out at the weekend to minimise disruption to the production schedules. The maintenance team must make sure that they complete any maintenance tasks during that time, because production must re-start after the weekend. At the beginning of each week, the MM meets with the PLM to agree on a maintenance schedule for the following weekend.

Supporting document 3 shows the latest maintenance schedule and includes details of the tools and equipment the maintenance team will need, so that preparations can be made in advance.

As the maintenance team work at the weekend, they take rest days on Monday and Tuesday. In the remaining three days of the week, they attend to breakdowns and any new development work to improve the performance of the production lines. Unless planned into the maintenance schedule, or there is a machinery breakdown, other maintenance tasks are not completed during this time.

Supporting Documents
1. Disinfection task
2. Roll cage
3. Maintenance schedule
4. Hand-arm viberation (HAV) Ready Reckoner

Task 1: Disinfecting chemicals

The existing procedure and health and safety information for regular disinfection of the production area and equipment is given in supporting document 1.

(a) Suggest what changes could be made to improve the existing procedure to demonstrate greater adherence to the relevant parts of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) code of practice (CoP) Safety in the Use of Chemicals at Work, section 6.5.

Note: Your answer must be based on the scenario and supporting document 1 only.

(b) Consider how the risks of exposure to Cleanse-Quat change when thorough disinfection is carried out, compared to regular disinfection.

Note: Your answer must be based on the scenario and supporting document 1 only.

(26)

(12)

Task 2: Manual handling

The PLM has been advised to carry out a detailed risk assessment when assessing the pushing and pulling of the filled roll cages. They look on the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) website and find a detailed risk assessment example for a similar task.

Explain the risk factors that pushing and pulling the filled roll cages could present, that should be considered in a detailed risk assessment.

Note: You should support your answer, where applicable, using relevant information from the scenario and supporting document 2.

(38)

Task 3: Thermal environments at the factory

(a) Workers at the factory carry out tasks in extreme cold thermal environments.

(i) Describe how the workers will be exposed to extreme thermal environments.
Note: You should support your answer, where applicable, using relevant information from the scenario.

(ii) Describe the effect this would have on worker thermal comfort.
Note: You should support your answer, where applicable, using relevant information from the scenario.

(b) Explain how FF could protect workers from the effects of the extreme thermal environments.
Note: You should support your answer, where applicable, using relevant information from the scenario.

(7)

(30)

Task 4: Hand-arm vibration (HAV) exposure

(a) Using only the information in supporting documents 3 and 4, estimate the likely vibration exposure on 23 May of

(i) Worker X during the whole working day.
(ii) Worker Y during the whole working day.

Note: Use calculations to support your answers.

(b) Explain why estimations of vibration exposure for Workers X and Y may not accurately reflect the actual vibration exposures.

Note: You should support your answer, where applicable, using relevant information from the scenario and supporting document 3.

(c) The MM has reviewed the maintenance schedule. For the afternoon, the MM has decided to swap the allocation of tasks for Workers X and Y. The morning task allocation remains unchanged.

In terms of vibration exposure, explain why the MM may have decided to swap the workers’ tasks.

Notes: You should support your answer, where applicable, using relevant information from the scenario.
You must use supporting documents 3 and 4.
Use calculations to support your answer.

(d) Considering only tools, what control measures could be put in place to reduce the risks associated with vibration exposure that occur during maintenance work at FF.

Note: You should support your answer, where applicable, using relevant information from the scenario and supporting document 3.

(6)

(14)

(20)

(9)

End of examination

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