Post-conference meeting
Special Meeting on 3 May 2019
Occupational health and productivity impacts of workplace heat
in relation to global and local climate change
Place: Wellington, New Zealand
Time: 3 May 2019, 09.00 - 16.00, the day after the end of EPICOH2019
EPICOH2019 (29.4 - 2.5) = annual global conference on occupational epidemiology
Participation via Internet Zoom will be provided for.
If you are interested in taking part via Internet, please notify Tord Kjellstrom by email: kjellstromt@yahoo.com. If you are present at the conference, please just come to this venue on 3 May.
Organisers: Massey University, Centre for Public Health Research, Wellington, Dave McLean
ICOH Scientific Committee on Thermal Factors, Chair: Jason Lee, Singapore
European HEATSHIELD project, Promot. Mgr: Tord Kjellstrom, Sweden/NZ
Aims: - to start a process for a scientific consensus report on methods for occupational health and productivity assessment of workplace heat as a result of climate change
- to identify gaps in the available evidence, approaches to filling the gaps and initiatives for international cooperation to fill the gaps
- to publish a joint report by 2021 providing a comprehensive scientific basis for the Heat at Work issue, which can be a useful complement to more practical advisories produced by international agencies (one report from ILO will be published in 2019, and another is planned by WHO/WMO in 2020).
Follow-up process: After this Wellington event, there will be opportunities to continue the discussions and writing at meetings in 2019 in Japan, Sweden, the Netherlands, etc......
The annual main HEATSHIELD meeting in 2020 could be the event for review of final version of the scientific report.
Report content and structure:
Heat impact assessments of occupational health and productivity have a series of components listed below. The main aim is to identify gaps in the needed evidence for quantitative assessments, and to find ways to fill these gaps in a consensus manner. The report will contribute to robust analysis of future health and economic impacts in any part of the world.
- Quantifying climate change related heat exposure levels of relevance to labour impacts
- Describing the range of health effects and related well-being and social effects
- Exposure-response relationships for each effect
- Risk assessment analysis methods; Individual effects vs Population impacts
- Reduced impacts and economic gains from Adaptation and Mitigation
Potential partners: GHHIN, IPCC, Lancet Countdown, EPICOH, ICOH/SCTF, ISIMIP, HEATSHIELD, ISBiomet, ISO Committee, ACGHI, ILO, WHO, WMO, IOM, UNEP, EU OSHA, EU EPA, WB/ADB, Urban heat soc, Canada Work-heat, etc