Climate change is making work more difficult and dangerous for billions of people, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) said on Thursday.
In Europe and Central Asia, the proportion of people exposed to excessive heat at work is low by global standards, but it has increased more than in any other region over the past 20 years, the ILO reported.
Heat affects not only those who work outdoors, such as in fields or on construction sites, but also those employed in factories or wearing protective suits, like firefighters.
According to the report, almost 22.9 million people experience accidents due to heat at work every year, and nearly 19,000 die as a result. Additionally, 26.2 million people live with chronic kidney problems because they do not drink enough fluids at work.
Once temperatures reach 32 degrees Celsius, someone doing manual labor needs to drink 0.85 liters of water per hour.
In 2020, 29 percent of workers in the Europe and Central Asia region were exposed to excessive heat at times. This region spans from Portugal through Afghanistan to the western border of China. This is 17.3 percent more than 20 years previously, the ILO said.
In all other regions of the world, the proportion was already significantly higher in 2020 and has risen less sharply. The largest proportion is in Africa, where 90.2 percent of people are exposed to excessive heat at work at times, followed by the Arab states with 83.6 percent.
In total, 2.4 billion people worldwide are confronted with such heat.
dpa
