Energy expenditure of dockers performing heavy loading/discharging works and of other occupational groups in ports.
The examinations conducted in 1986-1990 comprised 1123 harbour workers in ports of Gdańsk and Gdynia. The mean age of all persons examined was 42.38 +/- 11.27, the mean period of the employment at port was 19.38 +/- 7.20 years. In the group stevedore-trimmers the corresponding values were 38.13 +/- 10.81 and 14.27 +/- 5.76 years, respectively. Average body height in the whole group of men investigated was 173.46 +/- 6.43 cm. The lowest body mass found in stevedores and trimmers was 76.36 +/- 11.43 kg, the highest in supervisors and controllers was 82.32 +/- 10.76 kg. The energy expenditure of the occupational work in the groups examined fell within a wide range from 493.25 +/- 45.09 kcal (2064.19 +/- 177.05 kJ) to 2335.79 +/- 326.02 kcal (9778.62 +/- 1234.34 kJ). The energy expenditure of stacking-yard tenders, shipping clerks, tallymen, foremen, hoistmen and cranemen fluctuated within the range of 493.25 +/- 45.09 kcal (2064.19 +/- 177.05 kJ) and 614.08 +/- 67.23 kcal (2567.06 +/- 254.74 kJ). In the group of maintenance workers of mechanical equipment: from 886.98 +/- 144.09 kcal (3722.85 +/- 378.03 kJ) to 1268.65 +/- 231.45 kcal (5309.11 +/- 824.00 kJ). In the largest group of mechanical equipment operators it was 1142.06 +/- 102.45 kcal (4646.45 +/- 386.05 kJ) on the average. The energy expenditures of stevedores and trimmers in all loading operations fell in the range from 1714.5 kcal (7176.9 kJ) to 2678.5 kcal (11213.9 kJ) and per eight hour shift they averaged 2047.03 +/- 257.25 kcal (8568.90 +/- 1076.85 kJ). Such results of the energy expenditures of stevedores and trimmers occupational jobs qualify it as heavy and in several loading operations as very heavy, the remaining groups perform work counted light and mean, periodically moderate. Out of all the occupational groups of the harbour workers examined, the labour of stevedores and trimmers was characterized by the highest energy expenditure, statistically higher than in other groups of dockers. It was found that the lower was the energy expenditure at work in a given group, the higher was the average body mass and the incidence of overweight and obesity in the groups of workers examined.
Waśkiewicz
J
J
Institute of Maritime and Tropical Medicine, Gdynia.
D000328:Adult; D004734:Energy Metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009790:Occupations; D009792:Oceans and Seas; D010101:Oxygen Consumption; D016526:Workload