The paint booth room was hot due to lack of ventilation, the heat generated by mechanical equipment, and its proximity to the oven. Temperature measurements with a TSI Q-Trak™ Indoor Air Quality Monitor (TSI Incorporated, Shoreview, Minnesota) ranged from 94°F to 103°F during the evaluation. On September 20, 2007, the outdoor temperature was 77°F while the temperature in the paint booth was 95°F. Although the paint room lacked exhaust fans, abandoned ducts in the ceiling of the paint room could be used to exhaust hot air if fans were installed.
Applying NIOSH criteria for heat stress, the metabolic heat rate for an employee standing doing light work with one arm would be 156 Kcal/hour. The average WBGT would need to exceed 88°F for the employees to require additional rest time during each one hour period worked. The average WBGT on the days of this evaluation exceeded neither the NIOSH RELs (see Table 4) nor ACGIH TLVs for acclimatized employees. If the employees were to wear a protective suit such as Tyvek®, a clothing adjustment factor would have to be added to the WBGT reading that would reduce the allowable exposure time.