Environmental Impact of cooling devices in production areas

[GinaBfun]

Hello Friends,
I am working w/ a cosmetics OEM manufacturer. Our Non-HEPA controlled manufacturing area is very hot and humid. We do not have any fans or HVAC in the one building that houses our manufacturing and warehouse activities. We maintain temps of 79 F and up, and RH at 60 to 100% and this is year-round. On top of this we have workers in Hairnets, facemasks, arm covers and safety glasses. As you can imagine an 8-hour shift working on a line gets pretty hot. We also cannot open our doors due to possible infestation from bugs and rodents. To make matters worse we do have a couple of products that are susceptible to micro contamination. We are just now implementing an Environmental testing and monitoring program, but we really don't have any data to date. Our Senior product personnel want to implement mitigations on the floor to reduce the extreme heat conditions that they crew experiences. They want to bring in large fans or fans that are actually act as standalone swamp coolers. They blow air across a soaked paper pad. I am very worried about what this might do to exposed product on the manufacturing lines and the overall micro load of the manufacturing/storage areas. I am looking for advice from others that may have dealt with this in the past. Were you able to use fans or mobile A/C units to cool the air, or did it increase micro load in the area due to the new increased circulation of air/water in the environment. I need to provide guidance to the Production department and my gut is saying no, but my heart is hoping I get a silver lining here at Elsmar...

 

[Ed Panek]

It sounds like you have some competing ideas.


Keeping employees from overheating.

Keeping the product in specification.

I’m not keen on giant fans in most production environments that involve humans applying it to their skin in its intended use but I’m not an expert in make up.

 

[Hendi]

Ah, the F word. Elsmar is not US and Myanmar only, I prefer SI units.
However, 60-100% relative humidity is fully in our take care to shut down area for microbiological reasons. Depending on suitable placement and mounting of the loggers (enough loggers?) you might have even worse conditions - a cold wall might already have condensation without you realising. Swamp coolers are either contributing to humidity and also don't give relief at high humidity. Also, water/paper will foul. Classius-Capeyron law can be a bitch, both in outside atmosphere and inside. Strong recommendation for true HVAC.

 

[optomist1]

Simply stated, "if one does not control process inputs, one has little chance to "control" the process outputs..."

 

[Nichole F]

I'll start out by saying I have no experience with cosmetics, only medical devices and products for pharma customers. But I do have experience with environmental monitoring and controls.

A true HVAC is your best option. A swamp cooler will only provide additional moisture. Moisture +heat = bacterial/fungal growth. If an HVAC is not possible, a dehumidifier is may be a good idea to reduce the RH in your areas where product is susceptible to environmental conditions. If you cannot control the temperature, your best option may be to try to address the humidity. Most microorganisms need both to grow. Under ideal conditions, bacterial colonies double in size every 20 minutes.

One company I worked for tried using ice vests for their employees with limited success.

For your environmental testing, make sure you are testing for bacterial and fungi. I've seen a few companies only test with TSA plates and not include any PDA or SDA. You'll want to make sure you are not starting off with a major micro issue before you make any changes. As Hendi stated, be sure you have suitable placement of your loggers for temperature and humidity. For storage areas, be sure your measurement method reflects what the product is actually experiencing (e.g., if your product is a liquid, consider dampened probes).

I'm assuming you also complete bacterial load testing of your finished products. This should also be an indicator of your production/storage environment impact on your product.

 

[gpainter]

We have several companies that are ACd ,for reasons from Coefficient of Thermal Expansion to employee comfort and retention. My son is a mechanic and the shop is ACd and he says they would have to pay a lot more to get him back in non ACd shop