70% world’s workers affected by climate change health hazards
CThe climate crisis has been specifically described as creating a ‘cocktail’ of serious health hazards for 70 per cent of the world’s workers, breeding diseases like cancer, cardiovascular disease, respiratory illnesses, kidney dysfunction and mental health conditions.
According to reports recently made public by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), a staggering number of workers, amounting to more than 70 per cent of the global workforce, 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, according to a new report by the (ILO).
The report, ‘Ensuring safety and health at work in changing climate’, says that climate change is already having a serious impact on the safety and health of workers in all regions of the world.
The ILO estimates that more than 2.4 billion workers, out of a global workforce of 3.4 billion, are likely to be exposed to excessive heat at some point during their work, according to the most recent figures available.
When calculated as a share of the global workforce, the proportion has increased from 65.5 per cent to 70.9 per cent since 2000.
In addition, the report estimates that 18,970 lives and 2.09 million disabilityadjusted life years are lost annually due to the 22.87 million occupational injuries, which are attributable to excessive heat.
This is not to mention the 26.2 million people worldwide living with chronic kidney disease linked to workplace heat stress (2020 figures).
However, the impact of climate change on workers goes well beyond exposure to excessive heat, the report says, creating a ‘cocktail of hazards’, which result in a range of dangerous health conditions. When contacted for comment, a liswati climate change expert, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said besides diseases in occupation health and safety, climate change increased cases of waterborne diseases.
“Diseases like Malaria, Cholera, and related, thrive mostly during climate catastrophe and this is because WASH (water, Sanitation, and hygiene) is not observed due to lack of resources. There are many other direct and indirect diseases due to disasters. Currently, the world is dealing with rising anxiety levels- which are caused by increasing cases of climate disasters. And anxiety is a mental health illness,” briefly commented the climate change expert.
The ILO report also notes that numerous health conditions in workers have been linked to climate change, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, respiratory illnesses, kidney dysfunction and mental health conditions.
The impact includes:
• 1.6 billion workers exposed to UV radiation, with more than 18,960 work-related deaths annually from nonmelanoma skin cancer.
1.6 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.
15,000 work-related deaths every year due to exposure to parasitic and vector-borne diseases.
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