In the US and the Western European nations, July 2023 was a month of extreme heat rarely experienced by their citizens. This led to around 150 deaths in just 5 counties of American states. While writing this article, Maricopa County in Phoenix, for example, has 312 deaths still under investigation for a possible heat-related cause.
More heat leads to more deaths especially in a population that isn’t used to it. In the tropical countries the heat is much more but the deaths are proportionately fewer as they are better acclimatised. And even those few deaths in tropical countries are mainly due to lack of timely awareness, lack of shade areas, lack of cool, potable drinking water and lack of timely government advisory.
Industry leaders usually follow government advisories, if at all.
Scientists have cautioned that heat waves will continue to get worse with the climate crisis. It is the greenhouse gas emissions that will lead to extreme heat in future.
Extreme heat not only causes discomfort but also leads to productivity losses. In vulnerable population, extreme heat causes death.
David S. Jones, a physician and historian at Harvard University, said the numbers reported here and more widely across the country are likely underestimates. He called the counts “mysterious.” “The low numbers of reported death really puzzle me,” Jones told CNN. “Less severe heat waves in the US have killed hundreds of people in the past. I think it is very likely that the current mortality reports from the US in summer of 2023 are a significant undercount, though I have no proof of that.”
In India, by around 2100, it is estimated that 1.5 million more people will likely die every year as a result of climate change; this is as high as deaths from all infectious diseases in India today. This was revealed in an October 2019 study by the Climate Impact Lab.
The study further said, with continued high greenhouse gas emissions, the average annual temperature in India is estimated to increase from 24 to 28 degrees C by end of this century.
The other finding of the study was that the number of extremely hot days per year are expected to increase. By 2100 there would be 42 days with temperature over 35 degrees C increasing from about 5 per year in 2010.
Kamal Kishore, member of National Management Disaster Authority, had said at the release of the report on October 31 2019, “These findings are a reminder that we have to keep making concerted, long-term efforts to build resilience to extreme heat.”
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) in its July 2019 report said that productivity loss due to heat stress in India, brought on by rapidly rising temperatures, will be equivalent to 34 million full-time jobs in another 10 years.
The ILO also reiterated that agriculture and construction work are expected to suffer the most. And that is bad news for India where farming and construction are the top two occupations, both of which are unorganized and are done outdoors where workers also work for long hours.
In India, there are millions of outdoor workers who are already finding it difficult to work as temperatures rise every year, harming their health and hurting productivity.
The future of outdoor work in extreme hot climate is a matter of concern. Governments and industry leaders should make every effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions. On the other hand, scientists, researchers and Occupational Health physicians should constantly remind the law makers, industry leaders and the public to be aware of this stark reality and take appropriate actions.
Greenhouse emissions are directly related to population growth as uncontrolled population leads to increase in consumption.
To mitigate the issue of productivity loss and health effects of extreme heat (death, discomfort, safety issues), a multi-pronged approach is needed that includes population control, mechanization of agriculture and construction, awareness in all sections of society and timely advisories by the government about the steps to be taken to manage health effects due to heat.
The OH physician should create awareness in the industry he/she works and issue timely advisories (relating to extreme heat and other relevant health issues) to the employees.
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Dr Ajay Sati is an Occupational Health physician who prefers to describe himself as an Occupationist, to denote, ‘an expert in diseases and other concerns of occupations.’ Dr Sati has managed health and wellness programs in industries he worked, like the atomic energy, and energy (oil & gas) in India and overseas. An experienced virtual consultation expert he was involved in many greenfield and brownfield projects providing inputs from health point of view.
