Monash Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health (MonCOEH), Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
Institutes for Work & Health, Toronto, Canada.
Int J Biometeorol. 2018 Feb;62(2):153-163. doi: 10.1007/s00484-017-1435-9. Epub 2017 Sep 8.
It has been reported that weather-related high ambient temperature is associated with an increased risk of work-related injury. Understanding this relationship is important because work-related injuries are a major public health problem, and because projected climate changes will potentially expose workers to hot days, including consecutive hot days, more often. The aim of this study was to quantify the impact of exposure to sustained periods of hot weather on work-related injury risk for workers in Melbourne, Australia. A time-stratified case crossover study design was utilised to examine the association between two and three consecutive days and two and three consecutive nights of hot weather and the risk of work-related injury, using definitions of hot weather ranging from the 60th to the 95th percentile of daily maximum and minimum temperatures for the Melbourne metropolitan area, 2002-2012. Workers' compensation claim data was used to identify cases of acute work-related injury. Overall, two and three consecutive days of hot weather were associated with an increased risk of injury, with this effect becoming apparent at a daily maximum temperature of 27.6 °C (70th percentile). Three consecutive days of high but not extreme temperatures were associated with the strongest effect, with a 15% increased risk of injury (odds ratio 1.15, 95% confidence interval 1.01-1.30) observed when daily maximum temperature was ≥33.3 °C (90th percentile) for three consecutive days, compared to when it was not. At a threshold of 35.5 °C (95th percentile), there was no significant association between temperature and injury for either two or three consecutive days of heat. These findings suggest that warnings to minimise harm to workers from hot weather should be given, and prevention protocol initiated, when consecutive warm days of temperatures lower than extreme heat temperatures are forecast, and well before the upper ranges of ambient daytime temperatures are reached.
据报道，与工作相关的伤害风险与与天气相关的高环境温度有关。了解这种关系很重要，因为与工作相关的伤害是一个主要的公共卫生问题，而且预计的气候变化将使工人更容易暴露在炎热的天气中，包括连续的炎热天气。本研究的目的是量化暴露于持续高温天气对澳大利亚墨尔本工人与工作相关的伤害风险的影响。利用 2002-2012 年墨尔本大都市区每日最高和最低温度的第 60 到第 95 百分位数的热天气定义，采用时间分层病例交叉研究设计，研究连续两天和三天以及连续两天和三天的热天气与与工作相关的伤害风险之间的关联。利用工人赔偿索赔数据来确定急性与工作相关的伤害病例。总的来说，连续两天和三天的热天气与受伤风险增加有关，这种影响在每日最高温度达到 27.6°C（第 70 百分位数）时变得明显。连续三天的高温但非极端温度与最强的效果有关，当连续三天的每日最高温度≥33.3°C（第 90 百分位数）时，受伤风险增加 15%（比值比 1.15，95%置信区间 1.01-1.30），与最高温度不高时相比。在 35.5°C（第 95 百分位数）的阈值下，连续两天或三天的高温与温度之间没有显著的关联。这些发现表明，当预测到连续几天的温度低于极端高温时，应发出警告以尽量减少工人在炎热天气下受到的伤害，并应启动预防协议，而不是在环境日间温度达到较高范围之前。
