Workplace heat stress, health and productivity – an increasing challenge for low and middle-income countries during climate change

Abstract

BackgroundGlobal climate change is already increasing the average temperature and direct heat exposure in many places around the world.ObjectivesTo assess the potential impact on occupational health and work capacity for people exposed at work to increasing heat due to climate change.DesignA brief review of basic thermal physiology mechanisms, occupational heat exposure guidelines and heat exposure changes in selected cities.ResultsIn countries with very hot seasons, workers are already affected by working environments hotter than that with which human physiological mechanisms can cope. To protect workers from excessive heat, a number of heat exposure indices have been developed. One that is commonly used in occupational health is the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT). We use WBGT to illustrate assessing the proportion of a working hour during which a worker can sustain work and the proportion of that same working hour that (s)he needs to rest to cool the body down and maintain core body temperature below 38°C. Using this proportion a ‘work capacity’ estimate was calculated for selected heat exposure levels and work intensity levels. The work capacity rapidly reduces as the WBGT exceeds 26–30°C and this can be used to estimate the impact of increasing heat exposure as a result of climate change in tropical countries.ConclusionsOne result of climate change is a reduced work capacity in heat-exposed jobs and greater difficulty in achieving economic and social development in the countries affected by this somewhat neglected impact of climate change.

Pesticide exposure and health conditions of terrestrial pesticide applicators in Córdoba Province, Argentina

“…The heat stress disorders must be considered when evaluating health conditions of agricultural workers exposed to intense sunlight and heat while working, as possible confounders. Symptoms of heat stress illness may vary according to the level of exposure, and include cramps, weakness, headaches, fatigue, confusion, and heat stroke 34 . They can be considered as a limitation of this study, since the prevailing weather conditions at the time of appearance of symptoms has not been investigated.…”

Sustainability Challenges from Climate Change and Air Conditioning Use in Urban Areas

“…Global climate change will increase outdoor and indoor heat loads, and may harm health and impair work productivity for millions of people [1][2][3][4]. Air conditioning (AC) is a common technical solution to problems of increasing temperatures and includes both temperature and humidity control of the indoor air [5].However, growing AC use increases electricity consumption and therefore climate change, if the energy source is not renewable, contributes to the urban heat island effect and ambient heat exposure.…”

Health and climate change: policy responses to protect public health

“…58 Heavy labour in hot humid environments is a particular health and economic risk to millions of working people and their families in hot tropical and sub-tropical parts of the world. 59 These have been documented in young and middle-aged men in France 2003, 60 agricultural workers in the USA, 61 and sugar-cane harvesters in Central America.…”

“…These measures are combined in an index known as wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT), used to determine how long an individual can work before a break, with work capacity falling substantially after WBGT 26-30°C. 58 Using projections from RCP8.5 and SSP2, figure 5 estimates the extent of lost labour productivity (on the basis of the response function between temperature and productivity used by Dunne et al, 2012 65 ) across the coming decades, focusing on proportion of the labour force in rural and urban areas. Again the impact of climate change is greater in regions such as sub-Saharan Africa and India.…”