The Colour As Design Instrument To Increase The Workers Welfare In Ready-To Use Fruits Sector

This paper aims to study the relationship between the work environments and the psycho-physical staff welfare in “ready-to use fruit” sector. In particular this work has focused the influence of the colour of the processing premises on the welfare of the workers. The environmental quality is of great importance in this sector because of most productive operations are carried out manually and the workers are subjected to many constrictive factors for the health and safety as artificial light, low temperatures, intensive noise, repetitive movements, posture etc. The use of right colour in the work environment, a favourable chromatic contrast and right lighting conditions can reduce the workers eye- and ear-stress, improving at the same time their view, the whole state of psycho-physical well-being, the safety and the workers performance. The existing colours around the workers (walls, ceiling, floor, equipments, processed fruit, work clothes) were analysed in function of their chromatic shapes, warm and cold, that are able to influence the workers feeling of cold or warm, the features of active and passive shapes that stimulate feeling of relax and tranquillity or anxiety and activity. At the same way the relationship between colour perception in the work environment and other sense were examined in order to find out painting colours suitable to avoid an excessive sensorial stimulus. In fact, colours, sending multi-sensorial messages, stimulate the sense of hearing and smell, so they can affect taste, flavour, noise etc. For example the pink, increasing the sense of sweet, can be avoided in a confectioner's shop in order to preserve the workers from nausea; the green, reducing the noise perception, is suitable in a noisy environment. The final goal is to set up a design protocol for productive systems able to offer a safer and more comfortable work environment in ready-to-use fruit sector.