NEW DELHI: Rising heat will reduce the working capacity of outdoor workers and cause severe health impacts, says a study. India is among the tropical countries where outdoor workers get severely impacted due to humid heat which leads to loss of over 20 per cent working hours, it said.
It underlines the rise in 1 degree C of additional warming, heat and humidity, which will hinder the ability of one in eight people living in the tropics during most daylight hours.
Recently, the Indian Meteorological Department forecast an above-normal heat wave days and higher temperature in April-June. It would have a detrimental effect on outdoor workers such as farmers, construction workers, small-scale fish workers and others. The study, ‘Impacts of warming on outdoor worker well-being in the tropics and adaptation options’ published in One Earth journal, underlines the heat-impact on outdoor workers in the tropics that leads to loss of labour productivity as wages push outdoor workers into a web of poverty.
The heat affects work capacity and productivity through its physiological effects. Excessive heat enhances blood flow to the skin which can reduce the ability of muscles to perform physical work.
“Dry heat is relatively easier to handle. When the body heats up and we drink water, there is evaporation and the body cools down. However, in humid heat, evaporation reduces because of high moisture in the air which hampers the body’s cooling mechanism,” says Dr Vimal Mishra, Vikram Sarabhai Chair Professor, Civil Engineering and Earth Sciences, IIT Gandhinagar.
Another study, conducted in Tamil Nadu and published in October last year, found that occupational exposure to extreme heat more than doubled the risk of miscarriage among pregnant women, with the heat generally raising the overall risk of adverse pregnancy and birth outcomes.
Heat affects work capacity
The heat affects work capacity and productivity through its physiological effects. Excessive heat enhances blood flow to the skin, which can reduce the ability of muscles to perform physical work. “Dry heat is relatively easier to handle. When the body heats up and we drink water, there is evaporation and the body cools down,” says Vimal Mishra from IIT-Gandhinagar.
