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STORY: ILO / HEAT STRESS
TRT: 1:50
SOURCE: ILO
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH /NATS
DATELINE: 1 JULY 2019, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Wide shot press room
2. Various shots, reporters
3. Wide shot, panel
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Catherine Saget, Chief of Unit, Research Department, ILO:
“Heat stress is one of the main climatic drivers of migration as people move to minimize the effect of rising temperatures on their health and also try to compensate for the income lost due to reduced labor productivity.”
5. Cutaway, reporters
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Catherine Saget, Chief of Unit, Research Department, ILO:
“Heat stress refers to a situation where it is too hot to work or at least too hot to work at regular, at normal intensity. So it affects workers safety and health, it affects the economy, it affects productivity as well. Our report shows that 80 million jobs will be lost in 2030 because of heat stress. We also found that two sub-regions will be particularly affected and that’s South-Asia and Western-Africa where the losses will represent 5% of working hours in 2030.”
7. Close up, report
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Catherine Saget, Chief of Unit, Research Department, ILO:
“Economic costs are huge: they represent (USD) 2400 billion of GDP lost in 2030. That’s equivalent to the size of United Kingdom’s economy. Now there are of course human costs in addition.”
9. Close up, report
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Catherine Saget, Chief of Unit, Research Department, ILO:
“We also found that inequality is likely to increase as a result of heat stress. First of all, inequality will increase between countries and we found that the worst-affected countries include mostly least developed countries.”
11. Wide shot, press conference
An increase in heat stress resulting from global warming is projected to lead to global productivity losses equivalent to 80 million full-time jobs in the year 2030, according to a new report from the International Labour Organization (ILO).
Projections based on a global temperature rise of 1.5°C by the end of this century suggest that in 2030, 2.2 per cent of total working hours worldwide will be lost because of higher temperatures, a loss equivalent to 80 million full-time jobs. This is equivalent to global economic losses of US$2,400 billion.
Moreover, the report cautions this is a conservative estimate because it assumes that the global mean temperature rise will not exceed 1.5°C. It also assumes that work in agriculture and construction – two of the sectors worst affected by heat stress – are carried out in the shade.
The new ILO report, Working on a warmer planet: The impact of heat stress on labour productivity and decent work , draws on climate, physiological and employment data and presents estimates of the current and projected productivity losses at national, regional and global levels
Heat stress refers to heat in excess of what the body can tolerate without suffering physiological impairment. It generally occurs at temperatures above 35°C, in high humidity. Excess heat during work is an occupational health risk; it restricts workers’ physical functions and capabilities, work capacity and thus, productivity. In extreme cases it can lead to heatstroke, which can be fatal.
The sector expected to be worst affected, globally, is agriculture. 940 million people around the world work in the agricultural sector. It is projected to account for 60 per cent of global working hours lost due to heat stress by the year 2030. The construction sector will also be severely impacted with an estimated 19 per cent of global working hours lost by the same date. Other sectors especially at risk are environmental goods and services, refuse collection, emergency, repair work, transport, tourism, sports and some forms of industrial work.
The impact will be unequally distributed around the world. The regions losing the most working hours are expected to be southern Asia and western Africa, where approximately 5 per cent of working hours are expected to be lost in 2030, corresponding to around 43 million and 9 million jobs, respectively.
Moreover, it will be people in the poorest regions who will suffer the most significant economic losses. Lower-middle- and low-income countries are expected to suffer the worst, particularly as they have fewer resources to adapt effectively to increased heat. The economic losses of heat stress will therefore reinforce already existing economic disadvantage, in particular the higher rates of working poverty, informal and vulnerable employment, subsistence agriculture, Heat stress will affect millions of women who make up the majority of workers in subsistence agriculture, as well as men who dominate the construction industry. The social consequences of heat stress may include increasing migration, as workers leave rural areas to look for better prospects.
The challenges posed by climate change are a key focus of the ILO’s new Centenary Declaration for the Future of Work and will shape its operations and research agenda. The report demonstrates that the consequences are far-reaching for the UN’s 2030 Agenda . It warns that, “The economic, social and health effects of heat stress would make it harder to tackle poverty and promote human development, and, consequently, also to attain most of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).”
“Heat stress is one of the main climatic drivers of migration as people move to minimize the effect of rising temperatures on their health and also try to compensate for the income lost due to reduced labor productivity,” said Catherine Saget, Chief of Unit in the ILO’s Research department and one of the main authors of the report. “Economic costs are huge: they represent (USD) 2400 billion of GDP lost in 2030. That’s equivalent to the size of United Kingdom’s economy. Now there are of course human costs in addition.”
The report calls for greater efforts to design, finance and implement national policies to address heat stress risks and protect workers. These include adequate infrastructure and improved early warning systems for heat events, and improved implementation of international labour standards such as in the area of occupational safety and health to help design policies to tackle heat-related hazards.
Employers and workers are best placed to assess risks and take appropriate action at the workplace so that workers can cope with high temperatures and continue to do their jobs. Employers can provide drinking water, and training on recognizing and managing heat stress. Social dialogue can play a crucial role in reaching consensus on indoor and outdoor working methods, adapting working hours, dress codes and equipment, use of new technologies, shade and rest breaks.