Climate Change and Workplace Heat Stress: Technical Report and Guidance

Climate change implies that the health challenge associated with environmental heat stress will increase in intensity, and its direct as well as indirect negative effects will spread geographically. Adverse consequences of high environmental temperatures are currently experienced by approximately half the global population. They particularly affect health and quality of life for the most vulnerable citizens in developing countries, with children, older adults, and people living in poverty at highest risk of death and disease during extreme heat events. However, it is important to address the major negative health and productivity effects experienced by millions of manual workers exposed to workplace heat stress on a daily basis. These effects may affect not only individual livelihoods, but also family income and jeopardize the reduction of poverty-particularly in regions highly dependent on manual work, such as the agriculture, construction, and fishing sectors.