Investigation of thermal comfort conditions in a travertine processing plant by using thermal comfort indices

Through the total export figures, natural stone mining has an essential place in the mining sector in Turkey. The value of the sector is not only in terms of production mass but also in terms of its impact on employment, as the natural stone industry needs more workforce each year to meet the rapidly growing demand. Health security problems are also increasing with the increase in demand and the aggravation of business conditions. Thermal comfort conditions, which are one of the physical risk factors, constitute health-threatening situations in the natural stone sector. In this study, thermal comfort measurements were carried out in seven different sections of a travertine processing plant. As a result of thermal comfort measurements, predictive mean vote values ranged from - 0.50 to - 1.12, and the predicted percentage of dissatisfied values ranged from 11.24 to 32.47. Thermal sensation perceived by employees is not as neutral (0) as it should be in any working environment. According to these results, suggestions have been made to prevent employees from encountering health problems.