Climate change is killing workers

Climate change-related health hazards are impacting the large majority of the workforce. What complications could this cause for the future of work and employee health?

The concerning figures released by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) revealed that 70 per cent of workers worldwide “are likely to be exposed to climate change-related health hazards, and existing occupational safety and health (OSH) protections are struggling to keep up with the resulting risks”.

This equates to around 2.4 billion people, out of the 3.4 billion currently working. Excessive heat was noted by the ILO as a major climate change-related health hazard. When calculated as a share of the global workforce, the proportion of workers affected has increased from 65.5 per cent to 70.9 per cent since 2000.

Other major risks are ultraviolet (UV) radiation, extreme weather events, workplace air pollution, vector-borne diseases, and agrochemicals.

“It’s clear that climate change is already creating significant additional health hazards for workers. It is essential that we heed these warnings. Occupational safety and health considerations must become part of our climate change responses – both policies and actions,” said Manal Azzi, OSH team lead at the ILO.

“Working in safe and healthy environments is recognised as one of the ILO’s fundamental principles and rights at work. We must deliver on that commitment in relation to climate change, just as in every other aspect of work.”

The study further highlighted the losses experienced by these issues, as an estimated 18,970 lives and 2.09 million disability-adjusted life years are lost annually due to the 22.87 million occupational injuries, which are attributable to excessive heat.

Furthermore, there were reportedly 26.2 million people worldwide living with chronic kidney disease linked to workplace heat stress, as of 2020.

There are a range of health issues that have worsened through climate change, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, respiratory illnesses, kidney dysfunction, and mental health conditions.

In fact, the ILO listed some of the major impacts of climate change on our workforce as:

• Six billion workers are exposed to UV radiation, with more than 18,960 work-related deaths annually from nonmelanoma skin cancer.
• Six billion likely to be exposed to workplace air pollution, resulting in up to 860,000 work-related deaths among outdoor workers annually.
• Over 870 million workers in agriculture are likely to be exposed to pesticides, with more than 300,000 deaths attributed to pesticide poisoning annually.
• About 15,000 work-related deaths occur every year due to exposure to parasitic and vector-borne diseases.

The ILO commented: “Climate change is already having serious impacts on the safety and health of workers in all regions of the world. Workers are among those most exposed to climate change hazards yet frequently have no choice but to continue working, even if conditions are dangerous. Global occupational safety and health (OSH) protections have struggled to keep up with the evolving risks from climate change, resulting in worker mortality and morbidity.”

Governments are responding to these problems through a variety of strategies. Some popular methods are revising or creating new legislation, regulations and guidance, and improving climate mitigation strategies – such as energy efficiency measures – in working environments.

“It may be necessary to re-evaluate existing legislation or create more new regulations and guidance. OSH considerations should be mainstreamed into climate-related policies, and climate concerns should be integrated into OSH practice. However, the current lack of monitoring and evaluation of policies and strategies may make it difficult for policymakers to determine the best course of action,” said the ILO.

Training and education initiatives that teach workers the impacts climate change has on the workforce are another path towards awareness and mitigation. Time will tell whether these strategies have the potential to shift these concerning statistics.