Page 164 - Petelin, Ana, Nejc Šarabon, Boštjan Žvanut, eds. 2017. Zdravje delovno aktivne populacije ▪︎ Health of the Working-Age Population. Proceedings. Koper: Založba Univerze na Primorskem/University of Primorska Press
P. 164
avje delovno aktivne populacije | health of the working-age population 162 Figure 7: Workers’ opinion (808), how one can reduce the exposure to heat
stress.
Conclusions
In the field of heat stress negative impacts on workers’ health and productivity
is a major need for intersectoral collaboration. The knowledge that we already
have or that we will obtain in further research needs to be transferred into
recommendations so that employers can maintain health and productivity of
their workforce. Among many themes that need to be addressed in the future
is also the definition and analysis of heat waves, which is in progress in Slove-
nian Environmental Agency and Biotechnical Faculty. Even though summer
temperatures do not seem extremely high in Slovenia, workers already report
on heat stress at their workplaces. Climate change will bring a further increase
in a number of hot days, which will worsen the heat stress working problems in
Europe and also in Slovenia.
The survey among 808 workers has shown that there are some symptoms
of heat stress very common among workers (thirst, excessive sweating, tired-
ness) and that they usually lead to a headache, exhaustion, nausea or vomiting,
and prickly heat. Workers sense the negative impact of heat stress on their well-
being, mental concentration, and productivity. In some cases, health problems
even had to be cured in the hospital. However, apart from some web instruc-
tions, there has never been a serious campaign to inform employers and work-
ers about heat waves and to propose solutions. This is also one of the further
steps in the Heat-Shield project, where we will develop a warning system and
test various solutions, depending on workplace specifics.
Acknowledgments
The work was supported by the European Union Horizon 2020 Research and
Innovation Action (Project number 668786: Heat Shield). We are indebted to
stress.
Conclusions
In the field of heat stress negative impacts on workers’ health and productivity
is a major need for intersectoral collaboration. The knowledge that we already
have or that we will obtain in further research needs to be transferred into
recommendations so that employers can maintain health and productivity of
their workforce. Among many themes that need to be addressed in the future
is also the definition and analysis of heat waves, which is in progress in Slove-
nian Environmental Agency and Biotechnical Faculty. Even though summer
temperatures do not seem extremely high in Slovenia, workers already report
on heat stress at their workplaces. Climate change will bring a further increase
in a number of hot days, which will worsen the heat stress working problems in
Europe and also in Slovenia.
The survey among 808 workers has shown that there are some symptoms
of heat stress very common among workers (thirst, excessive sweating, tired-
ness) and that they usually lead to a headache, exhaustion, nausea or vomiting,
and prickly heat. Workers sense the negative impact of heat stress on their well-
being, mental concentration, and productivity. In some cases, health problems
even had to be cured in the hospital. However, apart from some web instruc-
tions, there has never been a serious campaign to inform employers and work-
ers about heat waves and to propose solutions. This is also one of the further
steps in the Heat-Shield project, where we will develop a warning system and
test various solutions, depending on workplace specifics.
Acknowledgments
The work was supported by the European Union Horizon 2020 Research and
Innovation Action (Project number 668786: Heat Shield). We are indebted to
