Department of Epidemiology Lazio Regional Health Service, Rome, Italy.
Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Epidemiology and Hygiene Department, Italian Workers' Compensation Authority (INAIL), Rome, Italy.
Front Public Health. 2023 Aug 2;11:1173553. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1173553. eCollection 2023.
While there is consistent evidence on the effects of heat on workers' health and safety, the evidence on the resulting social and economic impacts is still limited. A scoping literature review was carried out to update the knowledge about social and economic impacts related to workplace heat exposure.
The literature search was conducted in two bibliographic databases (Web of Science and PubMed), to select publications from 2010 to April 2022.
A total of 89 studies were included in the qualitative synthesis (32 field studies, 8 studies estimating healthcare-related costs, and 49 economic studies). Overall, consistent evidence of the socioeconomic impacts of heat exposure in the workplace emerges. Actual productivity losses at the global level are nearly 10% and are expected to increase up to 30-40% under the worst climate change scenario by the end of the century. Vulnerable regions are mainly low-latitude and low- and middle-income countries with a greater proportion of outdoor workers but include also areas from developed countries such as southern Europe. The most affected sectors are agriculture and construction. There is limited evidence regarding the role of cooling measures and changes in the work/rest schedule in mitigating heat-related productivity loss.
The available evidence highlights the need for strengthening prevention efforts to enhance workers' awareness and resilience toward occupational heat exposure, particularly in low- and middle-income countries but also in some areas of developed countries where an increase in frequency and intensity of heat waves is expected under future climate change scenarios.
尽管有大量证据表明高温对工人的健康和安全有影响，但有关其导致的社会经济影响的证据仍然有限。本研究进行了范围广泛的文献综述，以更新与工作场所热暴露相关的社会经济影响方面的知识。
在两个文献数据库（Web of Science 和 PubMed）中进行文献检索，以选择 2010 年至 2022 年 4 月的出版物。
共有 89 项研究被纳入定性综合分析（32 项实地研究、8 项估算与医疗保健相关成本的研究和 49 项经济研究）。总体而言，高温暴露对工作场所产生的社会经济影响有确凿证据。在全球范围内，实际生产力损失近 10%，预计到本世纪末，在最坏的气候变化情景下，这一比例将增加到 30-40%。脆弱地区主要位于低纬度和低、中收入国家，这些地区的户外工作者比例较高，但也包括南欧等发达国家的一些地区。受影响最大的行业是农业和建筑业。关于冷却措施和工作/休息时间变化在减轻与热相关的生产力损失方面的作用，证据有限。
现有证据强调需要加强预防工作，以提高工人对职业性热暴露的认识和适应能力，特别是在中低收入国家，但也需要在一些预期未来气候变化情景下热浪发生频率和强度增加的发达国家地区加强预防工作，以提高工人对职业性热暴露的认识和适应能力。
