Geneva – 71% of the world's workers are exposed to serious health risks related to climate change, particularly excessive heat, which causes 22.8 million occupational injuries that cost 19,000 lives a year and more than two million years. of life adjusted according to the disability suffered.
The International Labor Organization (ILO) published this new data this Monday, which indicates that workers whose safety and health are threatened by climate change are now at least 5.4 points more than in 2000.
Based on the rise in global temperatures – which since 2016 have broken records year after year -, thermal stress affects 2.41 billion workers at some point during their work, out of an economically active population of 3.4 billion individuals, and is responsible for 26.2 million people suffering from kidney conditions.
In addition, heatstroke, exhaustion, cramps, cardiovascular diseases, heat syncope, among other problems, are typical.
The most affected are agricultural workers, those who carry out tasks related to the management of natural resources, construction, waste collection, transportation, tourism and sports, that is, those who spend a significant part of their time outdoor day.
The data used to reach these conclusions is from 2020 (the last for which complete and global figures are available), so it is most likely that the number of people affected is actually higher.
In a report on the need to ensure the safety and health of workers in the face of climate change, the ILO also addresses other environmental factors exacerbated by rising temperatures and which have harmful repercussions on workers.
These include exposure to UV radiation during work, an important factor in skin cancer (other than melanoma) and which causes as many deaths as excessive heat.
An estimated 1.6 billion workers are exposed each year to ultraviolet radiation (intensified by the gradual depletion of the ozone layer), which also causes sunburn, skin blisters, acute eye injuries, cataracts, and a weakened immune system.
Likewise, extreme weather events and natural disasters also related to climate change threaten the well-being of many workers, particularly those dedicated to responding to these emergencies, cleaning up tasks, as well as medical and rescue missions, says the ILO.
Climate change also increases the concentration of different atmospheric pollutants, directly or indirectly (due to forest fires, for example), to which 860,000 annual deaths from lung cancer, respiratory diseases or other diseases are attributed.
The ILO also includes as a risk to the health of workers the use of pesticides and other chemicals in agriculture, whose performance is directly affected by climatic issues, such as the level of rainfall, the appearance of pests or the lack of nutrients in the land. essential for plant growth.
Of the 870 million agricultural workers who suffer high exposure to chemicals, it is estimated that more than 300,000 deaths occur annually from pesticide poisoning.