Page 188 - CW E-Magazine (22-7-2025)

Special Report

The growing threat of heat stress in the workplace

s global temperatures continue vidual’s core body temperature (CBT) SURESH TANWAR
to rise, the extreme heat puts that may potentially cause physio- Senior Head of Audit and Consultancy,
Amillions of workers at serious logical decrements. British Safety Council, India
risk. Across the world, workers are ex-
posed to high heat conditions and most The International Labour Organi- says that Africa and the Americas have
often have little choice but to keep zation (ILO) warns that globally, over the highest proportions of occupational
working despite the danger. 70% of workers are at risk of heat stress injuries linked to excessive heat, with
due to exposure to excessive heat. In 7.2% and 6.7% of all occupational
In India, the situation is especially addition to immediate health risks like injuries, respectively.
dire. Most industrial workplaces regu- heat fatigue, heatstroke, cardiovascular
larly hit temperatures of 40°C to 45°C, issues, and electrolyte imbalances, Although heat-related regulations
yet there are no clear or enforceable workers may also suff er from long-term exist worldwide, current legislation
national standards for regulating work- injuries that aff ect their health for years. often remains too general to address the
place heat. Unfortunately, nearly 75% growing risks eff ectively. India’s labour
of the Indian workforce – around 380- The same ILO report also says that laws currently have no specifi c provi-
million people – rely on jobs that almost 26.2-million people worldwide sions to protect workers from extreme
expose them to high heat conditions. are living with chronic kidney disease heat. However, in recent years, many
caused by heat stress at work, account- other countries have started updating
In 2024, India endured one of its ing for about 3% of all chronic kidney their regulations and introducing new
most prolonged and intense summers, disease cases. Excessive heat can also laws in response to these threats and
with temperatures soaring past 50°C lead to mental health challenges, in- the latest scientifi c fi ndings.
(122°F) in several regions. 2025 con- cluding anxiety, depression, and mental
tinues to be the same, with the World fatigue, which can increase the like- As the ‘Heat at Work’ report out-
Bank estimating that India is set to lihood of workplace accidents. lines, the ILO’s analysis of legislation
become one of the fi rst regions where from 21 countries identifi es standard
heat waves could surpass the threshold Meanwhile, ILO’s latest report, provisions in national Occupational
of human survivability. ‘Heat at Work: Implications for Safety Safety and Health (OSH) responses.
and Health: A Global Review of the These include participatory risk assess-
Understanding heat stress and its Science, Policy, and Practice’, shows that ments that address excessive heat, tar-
impact workplace exposure to excessive heat geted strategies for high-risk workers,
Heat stress can be defi ned as the is particularly high in Africa (92.9%), use of the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature
sum of environmental and metabolic the Arab States (83.6%), and Asia and (WBGT) as a heat stress indicator,
heat loads, which increases an indi- the Pacifi c (74.7%). The report also hydration strategies, rest and modifi ed
schedules to limit heat exposure, cool
rest areas, heat acclimatisation mea-
sures, appropriate personal protec-
tive equipment, education and aware-
ness initiatives, and regular health
monitoring.

Addressing heat stress in the
workplace
Here are some key recommenda-
tions the ILO report mentions for action
to be taken by countries.

To begin with, prevention and con-
trol strategies for heat stress in the
workplace must be strengthened to

188 Chemical Weekly July 22, 2025

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