Comprehension of climatic and occupational heat stress amongst agricultural advisers and workers in Slovenia

Abstract

Climate changes and the associated higher frequency of heat waves in Middle-European countries will aggravate occupational heat stress experienced by Slovenian workers. Appropriate behavioral adaptations are important coping strategies and it is pertinent to establish if knowledge among advisers and workers is sufficient and identify the symptoms experienced by workers. Therefore a survey including 230 farmers and 86 agricultural advisers was completed. Thermal comfort ranged from hot to extremely hot for 85 ± 5 % of farmers working outside and heat stress had a negative impact on well-being (74 ± 6 %), productivity (68 ± 6 %) and concentration (34 ± 6 %). Reported symptoms were excessive sweating (84 ± 5 %), thirst (81 ± 5 %), and tiredness (59 ± 6 %). Women had a higher prevalence of headache (64 ± 10 %) compared to males (47 ± 8 %), higher frequency of fatigue (69 ± 10 vs 56 ± 8 %), and incidents with nausea or vomiting (19 ± 8 vs 9 ± 5 %). 81 ± 4 % of the responders reported that more time is required to complete tasks when the weather is hot. Nevertheless, 61 ± 6 % of farmers have never been informed of the impacts of heat stress and 29 ± 10 % of the agricultural advisers does not include this information in their guidance. This emphasizes the need for increased information and implementation of feasible solutions to mitigate the negative impact of heat stress on workers in the agricultural sector.Key words: heat stress; labor; farmers; agricultural advisers; health; well-being IZVLEČEK POZNAVANJE VROČINSKEGA STRESA NA DELOVNEM MESTU MED KMETIJSKIMI SVETOVALCI IN DELAVCI V SLOVENIJIV Sloveniji temperatura zraka narašča bolj kot v Evropi, zato je pomembno oceniti vplive vročinskega stresa na delovne razmere, sploh pri zunanjih delavcih, kot so kmetje. Raziskava je bila izvedena med 230 kmeti in 86 kmetijskimi svetovalci. Toplotno udobje je že zdaj neprimerno (vroče, prevroče ali zelo prevroče) za 85 ± 5 % kmetov, ko delajo zunaj, pri čemer vročinski stres vpliva na počutje (74 ± 6 %), storilnost (68 ± 6 %) in zbranost (34 ± 6 %) kmetov. Osnovni zaznani simptomi vročinskega stresa so povečano potenje (84 ± 5 %), žeja (81 ± 5 %) in utrujenost (59 ± 6 %). Ženske statistično značilno v večjem deležu poročajo o glavobolih (64 ± 10 % žensk in 47 ± 8 % moških), izčrpanosti (69 ± 10 in 56 ± 8 %) in slabosti oz. bruhanju (19 ± 8 in 9 ± 5 %). Kmetje in svetovalci skupno v več kot 80 % (81 ± 4 %) navajajo, da kmetje v času vročinskih valov za isto delo potrebujejo več časa. Kljub temu 61 ± 6 % kmetov še nikoli ni bilo obveščenih o vplivih vročinskega stresa, 29 ± 10 % svetovalcev pa še nikoli ni svetovalo o tem. Zelo jasno se kaže potreba po pripravi uporabnih, ne preveč splošnih smernic in možnih rešitev za zmanjšanje negativnega vpliva vročinskega stresa na kmete.

The Impact of Morphological Features on Summer Temperature Variations on the Example of Two Residential Neighborhoods in Ljubljana, Slovenia

“…Figure 3 shows that most of these areas had lower UHI (up to a maximum of 29.5 • C-a parameter defined by Pogačar [20] as a threshold value for detecting heat waves), which means that urban design of these neighborhoods, both modernist and contemporary, included environmental parameters which favorably affect the comfort of living. We investigated the relationship between urban morphology and overheating in terms of Oke's [11] vertical scale: Air UHI, Surface UHI, and Subsurface UHI.…”

Steps Towards Comprehensive Heat Communication in the Frame of a Heat Health Warning System in Slovenia

“…After gathering basic information about rising summer temperatures and general knowledge about heat stress, and sharing knowledge and ideas, it was important for us to get a more comprehensive picture of the situation of workers in many different companies. This was a supplement to our previous knowledge, which we had gained in 2016 in a production company [ 1 ], among agricultural workers and consultants [ 13 ] and among outdoor workers [ 14 ]. The questionnaire on heat stress among workers was designed by the Association of Free Trade Unions of Slovenia and distributed to its members by e-mail in June 2019.…”

“…In addition, there is not enough attention to the heat exposure of those who work outdoors or near hot equipment [ 10 , 11 ]. The frequent occurrence of various, even very serious, heat stress symptoms and diseases, as well as productivity losses, during or after heat waves has been observed in case studies among Slovenian workers in the manufacturing industry [ 1 , 12 ], agriculture [ 13 ] and outdoor work in various sectors [ 14 ]. The number of Slovenian workers in the 55–64 age group rose from 57,000 to 109,000 in the period 2008–2018 [ 15 ].…”

Outdoor thermal comfort research in urban areas of Central and Southeast Europe: A review

“…Novi Sad, Niš, Belgrade, Leskovac -Milicevic et al, 2013;Unkašević & Tošić, 2013, 2015Savić et al, 2014Savić et al, , 2018Stanojević et al, 2014a;2014b;Šećerov et al, 2015;Bajšanski et al, 2015;Milošević et al, 2015aMilošević et al, , 2015bMilošević et al, , 2016Milošević et al, , 2017aMilošević et al, , 2017bDjukic et al, 2016;Anđelković et al, 2016;Basarin et al, 2016Basarin et al, , 2018Bogdanović-Protić et al, 2016;Djekic et al, 2018aDjekic et al, , 2018bVučković et al, 2019, Lukić et al, 2019 Slovenia Ljubljana Vidrih & Medved, 2013;Fikfak et al, 2017;Pogačar et al, 2017Pogačar et al, , 2019aPogačar et al, , 2019bPerčič et al, 2018;Žiberna & Ivajnšič, 2018 Measurements and assessment of thermal comfort and other climatological events responsible for outdoor thermal comfort were also investigated. Kovács & Németh (2012) evaluated the differences and changes of the thermal comfort conditions in the last half century in Budapest based on the measurements of two meteorological stations located in different environments (LCZs).…”

“…However, there are some articles regarding other aspects of bioclimate, where OTC is indirectly assessed. For example, the articles regarding UHI mitigation (Vidrih & Medved, 2013;Fikfak et al, 2017), heat stress and mortality and health issues (Pogačar et al, 2017;2019a;2019b;Perčič et al, 2018;Žiberna & Ivajnšič, 2018). On the other hand, indoor thermal comfort and energy efficiency is more com-mon topic of interest among Slovenian researchers in the last decade (Pajek & Košir, 2017;2018;Pajek et al, 2019) There is an obvious lack of systematic approach and consistency when it comes to the OTC research on the country level within the countries with the low OTC research production.…”