The purpose of this study was to identify the winter thermal environments of 11 workplace nursery rooms on Jeju Island by measuring their temperature and humidity and conducting psychological evaluations of their childcare teachers. The study was cond...
The purpose of this study was to identify the winter thermal environments of 11 workplace nursery rooms on Jeju Island by measuring their temperature and humidity and conducting psychological evaluations of their childcare teachers. The study was conducted over an 11-day period in January 2017 and produced the following results. The average indoor temperature of the nursery rooms ranged from 18.1 to 23.8°C, and many of the nursery rooms showed higher temperatures than the environmental hygiene management standards of Korean school facilities (heating temperature: 18~20°C). The relative humidity of the nursery rooms ranged from 16.4 to 56.4%, and the absolute humidity, which is closely associated with the prevalence of influenza, ranged from 4.7 to 13.6 g/㎡. An increase in the indoor temperature of the nursery rooms resulted in a corresponding decline in the relative humidity, indicating a negative relationship. In terms of temperature variation, the average indoor temperature of the nursery rooms dropped during lunch time and morning and afternoon snack times, due to natural ventilation. The nursery rooms with floor heating exhibited gradual temperature rises between the morning and afternoon. The nursery rooms with both floor heating and ceiling-type air conditioning had higher indoor temperatures and larger temperature variations than those with only floor heating. A psychological evaluation of the teachers produced the following results: 30% of respondents answered “a little hot” and 24% answered “a little cold” to indicate their whole-body thermal sensation, and 57% of respondents answered “dry” to indicate their sensation of dryness.