nach oben

International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health

Erschienen in:

25.05.2021 | Original Article

Understanding occupational heat exposure in the United States and proposing a quantifying stress index

verfasst von: Samain Sabrin, Wesley C. Zech, Rouzbeh Nazari, Maryam Karimi

Erschienen in: International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health | Ausgabe 8/2021

Einloggen, um Zugang zu erhalten

Abstract

Purpose

Millions of workers exposed to the outdoor environment are extremely susceptible to extreme heat. Although several articles analyzed heat-related illnesses, injuries, fatalities at the country level, few investigated regional and state statistics especially for OSHA Region 4 and the state of Alabama, U.S, which we explored in this study.

Methods

We studied the number of heat-days over 90 °F (32.2 °C) heat-index within our study area, analyzed heat-related injury and illnesses to calculate their incidence rate during 2015 to 2019, observed the nature of such incidents, their monthly occurrence, and incidence trend over average air temperature. We conducted a comparative analysis of heat-related fatalities between construction and all industries. The existing heat regulations by OSHA and some state agencies have also been summarized.

Results

We observed the highest mean, maximum heat-days and injury-illness rate in the south and southeast part of Region 4; increase in incidence rate from 0.03 in 2017 to 0.28 per 10,000 employees in 2018 for the contiguous U.S; highest injury-illness rate (HIR) in OSHA Region 1, 4 and 6; highest HIR in Lee, Montgomery, Mobile and Madison counties of Alabama; 34.7% (construction) and 31.3% (all industries) of all cases experiencing nonclassifiable heat-light effects; high fatalities in construction industry with a trend of 1 death/5 years; increased mortality in all occupations with 1 death/2.4 years. We also proposed a Heat-Stress Index (HSI) as a routine heat-stress measure on jobsite.

Conclusion

The findings from this research and the proposed index can help in understanding heat-related risk at a regional level and implementing workplace interventions.

Acharya P, Boggess B, Zhang K (2018) Assessing heat stress and health among construction workers in a changing climate: A review. Int J Environ Res Public Health 15(2):247CrossRef

Arbury S, Lindsley M, Hodgson M (2016) A critical review of OSHA heat enforcement cases: lessons learned. J Occup Environ Med 58(4):359–363CrossRef

Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center (2011) Surveillance Snapshot: reportable medical events of heat injury in relation to heat index, June-September 2011. MSMR 18(10):19

Bonauto D, Anderson R, Rauser E, Burke B (2007) Occupational heat illness in Washington State, 1995–2005. Am J Ind Med 50(12):940–950CrossRef

Brocherie F, Millet GP (2015) Is the wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) index relevant for exercise in the heat? Sports Med 45(11):1619–1621CrossRef

Bureau of Labor Statistics, & U.S. Department of Labor (2014) Fatal occupational injuries by industry and event or exposure, All U.S. https://www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/cfoi/cftb0294.pdf

Bureau of Labor Statistics, & U.S. Department of Labor (2018) Fatal occupational injuries by industry and event or exposure, All U.S. https://www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/cfoi/cftb0330.htm

Bureau of Labor Statistics (2012)Occupational injury and illness classification manual. Retrieved from https://www.bls.gov/iif/oiics_manual_2010.pdf

Bureau of Labor Statistics (2019) How to compute a firm's incidence rate for safety management. https://www.bls.gov/iif/osheval.htm

Bureau of Labor Statistics (2021) Occupational employment statistics. Retrieved from https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_stru.htm

California Department of Industrial Relations (2005) Cal/OSHA Standards Board Adopts Emergency Regulations on Heat Illness Prevention. Retrieved from http://bit.ly/2zDvAyL

California Code of Regulations, Title 8, section 3395 (2005) Heat illness prevention in outdoor places of employment. Retrieved from https://www.dir.ca.gov/Title8/3395.html

Calvert GM, Luckhaupt SE, Sussell A, Dahlhamer JM, Ward BW (2013) The prevalence of selected potentially hazardous workplace exposures in the US: findings from the 2010 National Health Interview Survey. Am J Ind Med 56(6):635–646CrossRef

CDC (2021) Environmental health tracking program. Extreme heat days and events. Accessed From: https://ephtracking.cdc.gov/DataExplorer. Accessed on 02/11/2020

Centers for disease control and prevention (CDC) (2019) Climate change and extreme heat: what you can do to prepare

Chan AP, Yi W, Wong DP, Yam MC, Chan DW (2012) Determining an optimal recovery time for construction rebar workers after working to exhaustion in a hot and humid environment. Build Environ 58:163–171CrossRef

Cheshire WP Jr (2016) Thermoregulatory disorders and illness related to heat and cold stress. Auton Neurosci 196:91–104CrossRef

Crider KG, Maples EH, Gohlke JM (2014) Incorporating occupational risk in heat stress vulnerability mapping. J Environ Health 77(1):16

Coco A, Jacklitsch B, Williams J, Kim JH, Musolin K, Turner N (2016) Criteria for a recommended standard: occupational exposure to heat and hot environments. control Ccfd, editor

Dahl K, Licker R, Abatzoglou JT, Declet-Barreto J (2019) Increased frequency of and population exposure to extreme heat index days in the United States during the 21st century. Environm Res Commun 1(7):075002CrossRef

Fahad MGR, Saiful Islam AKM, Nazari R, Alfi Hasan M, Tarekul Islam GM, Bala SK (2018) Regional changes of precipitation and temperature over Bangladesh using bias-corrected multi-model ensemble projections considering high-emission pathways. Int J Climatol 38(4):1634–1648CrossRef

Fang Z, Feng X, Lin Z (2017) Investigation of PMV model for evaluation of the outdoor thermal comfort. Procedia Eng 205:2457–2462CrossRef

Fanger PO (1972) Thermal comfort: analysis and applications in environmental engineering. McGraw-Hill, New York

Gerrard D (2020) Heat-Related Illness. Triathlon Medicine. Springer, Cham, pp 45–55CrossRef

Ghalhari GF, Dehghan SF, Shakeri F, Abbasinia M, Asghari M (2019) Thermal comfort and heat stress indices for outdoor occupations over 15 years: a case study from Iran. Weather 74:S40–S45CrossRef

Gubernot DM, Anderson GB, Hunting KL (2014) The epidemiology of occupational heat-related morbidity and mortality in the united states: a review of the literature and assessment of research needs in a changing climate. Int J Biometeorol 58(8):1779CrossRef

Gubernot DM, Anderson GB, Hunting KL (2015) Characterizing occupational heat-related mortality in the United States, 2000–2010: An analysis using the census of fatal occupational injuries database. Am J Ind Med 58(2):203–211CrossRef

Lin RT, Chan CC (2009) Effects of heat on workers’ health and productivity in Taiwan. Glob Health Action 2(1):2024CrossRef

Lucas RA, Epstein Y, Kjellstrom T (2014) Excessive occupational heat exposure: a significant ergonomic challenge and health risk for current and future workers. Extreme Physiol Med 3(1):1–8CrossRef

Lundgren K, Kuklane K, Gao C, Holmer I (2013) Effects of heat stress on working populations when facing climate change. Industrial health, 51(1), 3–15. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2019) Climate Change and Extreme Heat: What You Can Do to Prepare. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/ climateandhealth/pubs/extreme-heat-guidebook. pdf

Mac VV, Elon L, Smith DJ, Tovar‐Aguilar A, Economos E, Flocks J, McCauley L (2021) A modified physiological strain index for workplace‐based assessment of heat strain experienced by agricultural workers. Am J Industr Med

Monazzam M, Golbabaei F, Hematjo R, Hosseini M, Nassiri P, Fahang-Dehghan SO (2014) Evaluation of DI, WBGT, and SWreq/PHS heat stress indices for estimating the heat load on the employees of a petrochemical industry. Int J Occup Hygiene 6(1):6–10

Moran DS, Shitzer A, Pandolf KB (1998) A physiological strain index to evaluate heat stress. Am J Physiol Regul Integ Compar Physiol 275(1):R129–R134CrossRef

North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) (2021) 23 – Construction. https://www.naics.com/naics-code-description/?code=23

NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (2019) Global Land‐Ocean Temperature Index. https://climate.nasa.gov/vital ‐signs/global‐temperature/

Nassiri P, Monazzam MR, Golbabaei F, Dehghan SF, Rafieepour A, Mortezapour AR, Asghari M (2017) Application of universal thermal climate index (UTCI) for assessment of occupational heat stress in open-pit mines. Industrial health

Neuroth, Trever L (2019) “The Heat Is Off... Review Commission Reverses Decision in Heat Stress Case | OSHA Law Blog.” Retrieved October 14, 2020 (https://www.oshalawblog.com/2019/04/articles/the-heat-is-off-review-commission-reverses-decision-in-heat-stress-case/).

NOAA (National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration) National Weather Service. (2016). Heat index. www.nws.noaa.gov/om/heat/heat_index.shtml.

NOAA Weather Related Fatality and Injury Statistics (2018). Retrieved from https://www.weather.gov/hazstat/

NOAA (2021) National Centers for Environmental Information. Retrieved from https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (1970) Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, Section 5(a). Retrieved from https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/oshact/section5-duties

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (2016) Using the heat index: a guide for employers. Washington, DC. https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/heatillness/heat_index/index.html

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (2017) Data & statistics: severe injury reports. Washington, DC. https://www.osha.gov/severeinjury/index.html

OSHA (2020) Severe Injury Reports. Retrieved from https://www.osha.gov/severeinjury

OSHA (2021) Heat Illness Prevention Campaign | Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Retrieved November 16, 2020, from https://www.osha.gov/heat

Petitti DB, Harlan SL, Chowell-Puente G, Ruddell D (2013) Occupation and environmental heat-associated deaths in Maricopa County, Arizona: A case-control study. PloS one, 8(5)

Public Citizen (2018) Extreme Heat and Unprotected Workers: Public Citizen Petitions OSHA to Protect the Millions of Workers Who Labor in Dangerous Temperatures. Retrieved from https://www.citizen.org/wp-content/uploads/migration/extreme_heat_and_unprotected_workers.pdf

Roelofs C (2018) Without warning: Worker deaths from heat 2014–2016. New Solutions 28(2):344–357CrossRef

Roghanchi P, Sunkpal M, Kocsis C (2015) Understanding the human thermal balance and heat stress indices as they apply to deep and hot US mines. In Proceedings of 15th Northern American Mine Ventilation Symposium, Blacksburg , pp. 1–6

Sabrin S, Karimi M, Fahad MGR, Nazari R (2020) Quantifying environmental and social vulnerability: Role of urban Heat Island and air quality, a case study of Camden, NJ. Urban Clim 34:100699CrossRef

Sarofim MC, Saha S, Hawkins MD, Mills DM, Hess J, Horton R, Juliana AS (2016) Ch. 2: Temperature-related death and illness (pp. 43–68). US Global Change Research Program, Washington

Sett M, Sahu S (2014) Effects of occupational heat exposure on female brick workers in West Bengal, India. Global Health Action 7(1):21923CrossRef

Spector JT, Krenz J, Rauser E, Bonauto DK (2014) Heat-related illness in Washington State agriculture and forestry sectors. Am J Ind Med 57(8):881–895CrossRef

Sugiono S, Hardiningtyas D (2014) Thermal comfort investigation based on predicted mean vote (PMV) Index using computation fluid dynamic (CFD) Simulation (Case Study: University of Brawijaya, Malang-Indonesia). Int Sci Index 8(11):612–618

Suma’mur PK (1979) Development of health and safety standards of work microclimate in Indonesia. Arh Hig Rada Toksikol 30(Supplement 4):1713–1717

Tustin AW, Lamson GE, Jacklitsch BL, Thomas RJ, Arbury SB, Cannon DL, Hodgson MJ (2018) Evaluation of occupational exposure limits for heat stress in outdoor workers—United States, 2011–2016. Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 67(26):733CrossRef

Thitisawat M, Polakit K, Caldieron JM, Mangone G (2011) Adaptive outdoor comfort model calibrations for a semitropical region. In Architecture & Sustainable Development (vol. 1): 27th International Conference on Passive and Low Energy Architecture (Vol. 1, p. 427). Presses univ. de Louvain

Vose RS, Easterling DR, Kunkel KE, LeGrande AN, Wehner MF (2017) Temperature Changes in the United States. Chapter 6

Wang S, Richardson MB, Wu CY, Cholewa CD, Lungu CT, Zaitchik BF, Gohlke JM (2019) Estimating occupational heat exposure from personal sampling of public works employees in Birmingham, Alabama. J Occup Environ Med 61(6):518–524CrossRef

Webber RCW, Franz RM, Marx WM, Schutte PC (2003) A review of local and international heat stress indices, standards and limits with reference to ultra-deep mining. J South Afr Inst Min Metall 103(5):313–323

Xiang J, Bi P, Pisaniello D, Hansen A (2013) Health impacts of workplace heat exposure: an epidemiological review. Industrial health, 2012–0145

Yi W, Chan AP (2013) Optimizing work–rest schedule for construction rebar workers in hot and humid environment. Build Environ 61:104–113CrossRef

Zare S, Shirvan HE, Hemmatjo R, Nadri F, Jahani Y, Jamshidzadeh K, Paydar P (2019) A comparison of the correlation between heat stress indices (UTCI, WBGT, WBDT, TSI) and physiological parameters of workers in Iran. Weather and Climate Extremes 26:100213CrossRef

Titel: Understanding occupational heat exposure in the United States and proposing a quantifying stress index
verfasst von: Samain Sabrin
Wesley C. Zech
Rouzbeh Nazari
Maryam Karimi
Publikationsdatum: 25.05.2021
Verlag: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Erschienen in: International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health / Ausgabe 8/2021
Print ISSN: 0340-0131
Elektronische ISSN: 1432-1246
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-021-01711-0

Live-Webinar "Urologie und Sexualmedizin in der Praxis"

Springer Medizin

Understanding occupational heat exposure in the United States and proposing a quantifying stress index

Abstract

Purpose

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Live-Webinar "Urologie und Sexualmedizin in der Praxis"

Springer Medizin

Abstract

Purpose

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Bitte loggen Sie sich ein, um Zugang zu diesem Inhalt zu erhalten

Weitere Artikel der Ausgabe 8/2021

Workplace bullying increases the risk of anxiety through a stress-induced β2-adrenergic receptor mechanism: a multisource study employing an animal model, cell culture experiments and human data

The effect and prediction of diurnal temperature range in high altitude area on outpatient and emergency room admissions for cardiovascular diseases

Correction to: Effectiveness of cleaning of workplace cytotoxic surface

Occupational cold exposure is associated with increased reporting of airway symptoms

Impact of different work organizational models on gender differences in exposure to psychosocial and ergonomic hazards at work and in mental and physical health

Correction to: Self‑reported cardiovascular health of teachers: results from the 5‑year follow‑up of the Gutenberg Health Study cohort