health impacts

European heat stress to reach critical levels under climate change conditions

Authors: 
Casanueva A, Kotlarski S, Fischer A, Schwierz C, Lemke B, Kjellstrom T, Liniger MA
Year: 
2018

Heatwaves are among the most dangerous natural hazards, being associated with considerable effects on the population. Under hot conditions the human body is able to regulate its core temperature via sweat evaporation, but this ability is reduced when the air humidity is very high. These conditions invoke heat stress which, in turn, may cause dehydration, hyperthermia and heat stroke. Heat stress is a major problem for vulnerable groups of the population and also constitutes an important threat for European workers with potential major impacts on workers' health and productivity.

Surveillance of work environment and heat stress assessment using meteorological data

Authors: 
Gao C, Kuklane K, Ostergren P-O, Kjellstrom T
Year: 
2019

Health surveillance and workplace surveillance are two related but different aspects of occupational health services. The assessment of heat stress using heat indices and thermal models in connection with meteorological data is an important part of surveillance of workplace heat. The assessment of heat exposure provides the basis for occupational health services. Workers should have health surveillance if the high heat stress cannot be reduced.

Heat stress impacts on cardiac mortality in Nepali migrant workers in Qatar

Authors: 
Pradhan B, Kjellstrom T, Atar D, Sharma P, Kayastha B, Bhandari G, Pradhan P
Year: 
2019

Background: Qatar is a major destination country for Nepali migrant workers (NMWs; main age range 25–35 years) in the construction trade. These 120,000+ NMWs are exposed to various occupational hazards, including excessive heat, and 3–4 workers die each week. Our study aimed to show whether heat exposure caused deaths. Methods: The worker population and mortality data of NMWs were retrieved from government institutions in Nepal.

Heat, human performance and occupational health -- a review and assessment of global climate change impacts

Authors: 
Kjellstrom T, Briggs D, Freyberg C, Lemke B, Otto M, Hyatt O
Year: 
2016

Ambient heat exposure is a well-known health hazard, which reduces human performance and work capacity at heat levels already common in tropical and subtropical areas. Various health problems have been reported. Increasing heat exposure during the hottest seasons of each year is a key feature of global climate change. Heat exhaustion and reduced human performance are often overlooked in climate change health impact analysis. Later this century, many among the four billion people who live in hot areas worldwide will experience significantly reduced work capacity owing to climate change.

Heat, Human Performance, and Occupational Health: A Key Issue for the Assessment of Global Climate Change Impacts

Authors: 
Tord Kjellstrom, David Briggs, Chris Freyberg, Bruno Lemke, Matthias Otto, Olivia Hyatt
Year: 
2016

Ambient heat exposure is a well-known health hazard, which reduces human performance and work capacity at heat levels already common in tropical and subtropical areas. Various health problems have been reported. Increasing heat exposure during the hottest seasons of each year is a key feature of global climate change. Heat exhaustion and reduced human performance are often overlooked in climate change health impact analysis. Later this century, many among the four billion people who live in hot areas worldwide will experience significantly reduced work capacity owing to climate change. In