According to recent reports from the International Labor Organization (ILO), excessive heat is the cause of more than 22.85 million workers’ injuries around the world.
Workers productivity goes down 2% to 3% for each degree Celsius (ºC) above 20 ° C, indicates a United Nations report released this Friday, which has increased the frequency and intensity of extreme heat situations.
The “Climate Changes and Thermal Stress Changes Report”, a joint analysis of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), draws attention to of workers and recommends governments, employers and health authorities measures to mitigate them.
Heat causes more than 22.85 million injuries to workers
The risk for the health of increases both for outdoor workers and for those in closed environments, including “insolation, dehydrationrenal dysfunction and neurological disorders “.
All of them “They impair long -term health and economic safety“, they emphasize organizations in a joint statement about the report, adding that”approximately half of the global population suffers adverse consequences of the high temperatures“.
According to recent reports from the International Labor Organization (ILO), excessive heat is the cause of more than 22.85 million workers’ injuries around the world.
Thermal stress: What is it?
“The Thermal Stress [quando a capacidade de o corpo humano regular a sua temperatura é dificultada pelas condições ambientais, demasiado quentes ou frias] It is already harming the health and subsistence means of thousands of millions of workers, especially in the most vulnerable communities, “said Jeremy Farrar, WHO Deputy Director General for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, cited in the statement.
Jeremy Farrar said that the analysis “offers practical and proof -based solutions to protect lives, reduce inequality, and get more resilient labor forces” to face global warming.
The fact that and of daytime temperatures greater than 40 ° C and up to 50 ° C if they are “increasingly common” are for the clear evidence that “immediate actions are needed to deal with the increasing impact of the thermal stress on workers around the world.”
“The thermal stress at work has become a global social challenge, which is no longer limited to countries located near Ecuadoras evidenced by the recent heat wave in Europe, “said OMM Deputy Secretary-General Ko Barrett, adding that” the protection of workers against extreme heat is not only an imperative of health but also an economic need. “
The report recommends the development of health policies with specific plans, taking into account climatic standards, workplaces and workers vulnerabilities, focusing on elders, those who have chronic health problems and the least physically fit.
Educate and sensitize rescuers, health professionals, employers and workerss to properly recognize and treat the cases of thermal stress, as well as involving all stakeholders (workers, unions, specialists, local authorities, etc.) creation of “thermal health strategies” These are other of your recommendations.
It is advised even if they are adopted “technologies that can help protect health And at the same time, maintain productivity “and supported more investigation and evaluation of the measures.
“This report represents a fundamental milestone in our collective response to the growing threat of extreme heat in the world of work,” said Joaquim Pintado Nunes, the ILO head for occupational safety and health issues, quoted in the statement.
He said that the organization that represents, along with WHO and the WTor, “to an urgent and coordinated action to safeguard the health, safety and dignity of more than 2.4 billion workers exposed to excessive heat worldwide.”
