The impact of apparent temperature on occupational injuries in Australia
Files
(Published version)
Date
2022
Authors
Borg, M.
Xiang, J.
Anikeeva, O.
Bi, P.
Editors
Advisors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Type:
Conference item
Citation
Safety and Health at Work, 2022, vol.13, iss.Suppl., pp.S132-S132
Statement of Responsibility
Matthew Borg, Jianjun Xiang, Olga Anikeeva, Peng Bi
Conference Name
33rd International Congress on Occupational Health 2022 (6 Feb 2022 - 10 Feb 2022 : virtual online)
Abstract
Introduction: Hot temperatures are associated with an increased risk for work-related injuries increases. But nation-wide estimates for this risk are underexplored, particularly when indoor and outdoor heat exposure and the effects of cold. This study aimed to explore how this risk are affected by apparent heat stress.
Materials and Methods: Workers' compensation claims from Adelaide, Brisbane, Darwin, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney from 2005 to 2018 were merged with weather station and workers’ demographic data. Workers and heat exposure were classified as indoors or outdoors. The daily risk of occupational injuries from wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT) and Steadman’s apparent temperature were quantified separately using time series analysis and distributed lag non-linear models. National estimates were obtained using meta-analysis.
Results and Conclusions: The relative risk for occupational injuries was similar within the middle 50% of WBGT values but otherwise increased curvilinearly. 26852 (95% CI: 16890 - 36203) of injuries were attributed to non-optimal WBGT, equivalent to an attributable fraction of 1.63% (95% CI: 1.03 – 2.2%). Nearly three times as many injuries were due to hot (1.21%, 95%: 0.75 - 1.64) instead of cold exposure (0.42, 95% CI: 0.04 - 0.83). Only small differences were observed between outdoor and indoor workers. Similar results were obtained using Steadman’s apparent temperature. Global warming will likely exacerbate the risk of occupational injuries. Workplace heat adaptation and prevention measures are imperative to reduce the risk of injuries.
School/Discipline
Dissertation Note
Provenance
Description
Abstract #141
Access Status
Rights
© 2021 Published by Elsevier Korea LLC. Open acess. Under a Creative Commons license Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)