The heat exposure risk to outdoor workers in Brazil.

The heat exposure risk to outdoor workers in Brazil. Arch Environ Occup Health. 2019 Jul 01;:1-8 Authors: Pires Bitencourt D, Alves Maia P, Cauduro Roscani R Abstract Heat exposure is a major cause of health issues in outdoor workers. The aim of this study is to show a macro analysis of the heat exposure risk (HER) countrywide through the WBGT index. The index estimates are conducted from 50 years of meteorological observations. The HER takes into account the light, moderate, and heavy workloads, and the HER maps are separately generated decade by decade and season by season. It was found that HER has stronger effect on heavy workload workers during summer. It is even more critical in the Northern, Northeastern, and in part of Midwestern Brazil. There was HER increase in the last two decades, showing the need of applying control measures. It is very important taking continuous actions such as environmental and physiological monitoring, light clothing, and flexible work shifts. PMID: 31258055 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Archives of Environmental and Occupational Health - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Tags: Arch Environ Occup Health Source Type: research