Extreme Heat Exposure and Occupational Health in a Changing Climate

Vanos, Jennifer; Moyce, Sally; Lemke, Bruno; Kjellström, Tord

doi:10.1002/9781119413738.ch10

Cited by 6 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 128 publications

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“…During heat waves, when the body is exposed to extremely high temperature, dehydration and microcirculation disorders occur, which could lead to thrombosis and chance of having strokes, exacerbations and mortality increase from ischemic heart disease and other causes. The most at-risk groups include young children, pregnant women, the elderly, people with disabilities and limited mobility, people whose professional activity is associated with outdoor activities, and people with low income [81,85,86,91,106,117,118,120,121,125,131,134,139,[148][149][150][151][152][153][154][155][156]. People living in urban areas of large cities with heavy traffic, where Urban Heat Island (UHI) is developed, can also be attributed to high-risk group [85,128,140,157,158].…”

Section: Temperature Waves and Human Healthmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Much is known about health consequences of heat and cold waves [1,[42][43][44][46][47][48][49]51,55,56,62,[69][70][71][72][73][74]79,81,83,86,[93][94][95][96][97][98][99][100][101][107][108][109][110][111][112]118,121,122], wildfires associated with extreme heat events and their health outcomes [78,108], on a global and regional scale. Children, the elderly, and people with cardiopulmonary disease are recognized as the most vulnerable groups of the population to the effects of episodes with extreme temperatures [45,53,57,62,64,73,…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Health Risks to the Russian Population from Temperature Extremes at the Beginning of the XXI Century

Grigorieva

Revich

2021

Atmosphere

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Climate change and climate-sensitive disasters caused by climatic hazards have a significant and increasing direct and indirect impact on human health. Due to its vast area, complex geographical environment and various climatic conditions, Russia is one of the countries that suffers significantly from frequent climate hazards. This paper provides information about temperature extremities in Russia in the beginning of the 21st century, and their impact on human health. A literature search was conducted using the electronic databases Web of Science, Science Direct, Scopus, and e-Library, focusing on peer-reviewed journal articles published in English and in Russian from 2000 to 2021. The results are summarized in 16 studies, which are divided into location-based groups, including Moscow, Saint Petersburg and other large cities located in various climatic zones: in the Arctic, in Siberia and in the southern regions, in ultra-continental and monsoon climate. Heat waves in cities with a temperate continental climate lead to a significant increase in all-cause mortality than cold waves, compared with cities in other climatic zones. At the same time, in northern cities, in contrast to the southern regions and central Siberia, the influence of cold waves is more pronounced on mortality than heat waves. To adequately protect the population from the effects of temperature waves and to carry out preventive measures, it is necessary to know specific threshold values of air temperature in each city.

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Section: Temperature Waves and Human Healthmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Health Risks to the Russian Population from Temperature Extremes at the Beginning of the XXI Century

Grigorieva

Revich

2021

Atmosphere

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“…Moreover, research has shown that from 2005–2014, 198 non-U.S. citizen deaths occurred on farms, which is over triple that of U.S. citizens ( 16 ). Further, many of these deaths and illnesses may not be counted due to cause of death (heat-caused vs. heat-related), linguistic or cultural barriers, immigration status, and other factors ( 1 ).…”

Section: What We Know About Heat and Migrant Farmworkersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There are a host of studies examining heat impacts on labor productivity and health [e.g., see ( 1 )], as well as a recent spate of research around COVID-19. In the case of farmworkers in California's Central Valley Region, results show that an increase of the heat index from 95°F to 100°F can result in losses of agricultural productivity between 4 and 8%, depending on labor intensity of the crop ( 2 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Extreme Heat and COVID-19: A Dual Burden for Farmworkers

López‐Carr

Vanos

Sánchez-Vargas

et al. 2022

Front. Public Health

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Currently, there is an extensive literature examining heat impacts on labor productivity and health, as well as a recent surge in research around COVID-19. However, to our knowledge, no research to date examines the dual burden of COVID-19 and extreme heat on labor productivity and laborers' health and livelihoods. To close this research gap and shed light on a critical health and livelihood issue affecting a vulnerable population, we urge researchers to study the two topics in tandem. Because farmworkers have a high incidence of COVID-19 infections and a low rate of inoculation, they will be among those who suffer most from this dual burden. In this article, we discuss impacts from extreme heat and COVID-19 on farm laborers. We provide examples from the literature and a conceptual framework showing the bi-directional nature of heat impacts on COVID-19 and vice versa. We conclude with questions for further research and with specific policy recommendations to alleviate this dual burden. If implemented, these policies would enhance the wellbeing of farmworkers through improved unemployment benefits, updated regulations, and consistent implementation of outdoor labor regulations. Additionally, policies for farmworker-related health needs and cultural aspects of policy implementation and farmworker outreach are needed. These and related policies could potentially reduce the dual burden of COVID-19 and extreme heat impacts while future research explores their relative cost-effectiveness.

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“…The metabolic rate associated with outdoor labor is expected to exceed the work capacity for safe work more frequently as global warming continues (Pörtner, Roberts, Tignor, et al., 2022), increasing the risk of exertional heat illnesses and reducing labor productivity (Dasgupta et al., 2021). Quantifying the occurrence and magnitude of heat stress can improve our understanding of the potential impacts of global climate change on agricultural worker productivity (Vanos et al., 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global reductions in manual agricultural work capacity due to climate change

Nelson,

Vanos,

Havenith

et al. 2024

Global Change Biology

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Manual outdoor work is essential in many agricultural systems. Climate change will make such work more stressful in many regions due to heat exposure. The physical work capacity metric (PWC) is a physiologically based approach that estimates an individual's work capacity relative to an environment without any heat stress. We computed PWC under recent past and potential future climate conditions. Daily values were computed from five earth system models for three emission scenarios (SSP1‐2.6, SSP3‐7.0, and SSP5‐8.5) and three time periods: 1991–2010 (recent past), 2041–2060 (mid‐century) and 2081–2100 (end‐century). Average daily PWC values were aggregated for the entire year, the growing season, and the warmest 90‐day period of the year. Under recent past climate conditions, the growing season PWC was below 0.86 (86% of full work capacity) on half the current global cropland. With end‐century/SSP5‐8.5 thermal conditions this value was reduced to 0.7, with most affected crop‐growing regions in Southeast and South Asia, West and Central Africa, and northern South America. Average growing season PWC could falls below 0.4 in some important food production regions such as the Indo‐Gangetic plains in Pakistan and India. End‐century PWC reductions were substantially greater than mid‐century reductions. This paper assesses two potential adaptions—reducing direct solar radiation impacts with shade or working at night and reducing the need for hard physical labor with increased mechanization. Removing the effect of direct solar radiation impacts improved PWC values by 0.05 to 0.10 in the hottest periods and regions. Adding mechanization to increase horsepower (HP) per hectare to levels similar to those in some higher income countries would require a 22% increase in global HP availability with Sub‐Saharan Africa needing the most. There may be scope for shifting to less labor‐intensive crops or those with labor peaks in cooler periods or shift work to early morning.

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Extreme Heat Exposure and Occupational Health in a Changing Climate

Cited by 6 publications

References 128 publications

Health Risks to the Russian Population from Temperature Extremes at the Beginning of the XXI Century

Health Risks to the Russian Population from Temperature Extremes at the Beginning of the XXI Century

Extreme Heat and COVID-19: A Dual Burden for Farmworkers

Global reductions in manual agricultural work capacity due to climate change

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