New Delhi: The International Labour Organization (ILO) has launched a global campaign to protect workers from excessive heat stress amid rising temperatures worldwide.
The campaign aims to strengthen partnerships, promote social dialogue, conduct research, raise awareness, and enhance international cooperation to safeguard workers from the impact of rising temperatures, it added.
This is particularly important as the ILO estimates that 2.4 billion workers out of a global workforce of 3.4 billion are likely to experience excessive heat during their work, according to recent findings by the ILO. This proportion has increased from 65.5 percent to 70.9 percent since 2000.
Excessive heat can have serious implications for workers’ health, leading to 22.87 million occupational injuries annually, resulting in 18,970 deaths and 2.09 million disability-adjusted life years lost, the ILO said.
The ILO’s Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Network Annual Meeting in Fortaleza, which took place on 22 July, focused on strategies to mitigate the effects of extreme heat on workers’ health. The meeting was held under the Brazilian G20 presidency, with one of the main focuses of the G20’s EWG being to ensure a just transition in the context of digital and energy transformations.
The launch of the global campaign was preceded by a day-long meeting involving OSH experts, who discussed strategies to mitigate the effects of extreme heat on workers’ health.