NEW YORK: A person tries to chill down with a bottle of water during a heat wave in New York City. … [+]
President Biden suggested a brand new rule designed to counter the risks of excessive heat within the workplace on Tuesday. The first measure of its kind would protect an estimated 36 million U.S. employees, including farmworkers, delivery and construction employees, landscapers and indoor employees in warehouses, factories and kitchens.
Speaking on the Emergency Operations Center in Washington, DC, the President said: “Extreme heat is the number one weather-related cause of death in the United States – more people die from extreme heat than from floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes combined.”
Last yr A record 2,300 people within the United States died from heat-related illnesses, based on a Related Press Analysis.
Although just a few states – California, Colorado, Minnesota, Oregon and Washington – have workplace standards for warmth stress, there aren’t any federal protections within the United States. The business community has consistently against such regulations that New York Times reports.
Under the proposed rule, employers can be required to discover “heat hazards,” develop emergency plans, and train employees and supervisors on the signs and symptoms of heat-related illness. Employers would even be required to implement rest breaks, provide shade and water, and permit “new employees to acclimate to heat.”
Heat crises are increasing worldwide
End of last month 100 million Americans were under a “heat dome” in 27 states, with temperatures well over 90 degrees and even over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Previously, a Period of maximum and sustained heat Mexico and parts of Central America were affected from late May to early June, killing not less than 125 people.
The extreme heat has not only affected the North American continent. 1,301 people died throughout the annual Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, when the region was hit by a scorching heatwave. Temperatures at times exceeded 50 degrees Celsius.
The World Health Organization says that humanitarian emergencies attributable to heat waves, wildfires, floods, tropical storms and hurricanes are increasing in scale, frequency and intensity.
In and of themselves, one-off cases of record heat are nothing special. It is the trend of world warming that’s worrying. According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Average surface temperature in 2023 was the warmest since weather records began in 1880. Overall, the planet was about 2.45 degrees Fahrenheit (1.36 degrees Celsius) warmer in 2023 than the typical between 1850 and 1900. Notably, the ten warmest years within the 174 years of weather records within the United States all occurred between 2014 and 2023based on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Climate change refers to long-term changes in temperatures and weather patterns. Such changes could be natural and result from changes in solar activity or large volcanic eruptions. But human activities have left a big carbon footprint that Main drivers of climate changeThis is primarily as a result of the burning of fossil fuels similar to coal, oil and gas, as this produces greenhouse gas emissions that envelop the earth, trapping the sun’s heat and thus increasing temperatures.
Climate change not only affects ecosystems and weather patterns, but also can have profound effects on human health. As heatwaves grow to be more frequent and intense, this also applies to a wide range of Health risksas STAT News outlines.
The more obvious risks include heat exhaustion, which is characterised by an acute lack of water and salt through heavy sweating, and warmth stroke, which occurs when the body temperature rises so quickly and so severely that the cooling system stops working completely, leading to reduced sweat production.
But for many vulnerable populations, the consequences of warmth should not so obvious. In this context, excessive heat is usually a silent murdererOnly weeks or months later, when researchers examine the mortality data, do they notice that the variety of deaths rises sharply after prolonged heat waves. Last summer, there have been greater than 70,000 such deaths in Europe.
And there’s a growing variety of food-, water- and insect-borne diseases. Ticks and other insects, for instance, increase their reach. The Diseases that pose a threat As global warming progresses, viruses are spreading to previously unaffected regions. These include the West Nile virus, dengue fever, chikungunya, Zika, malaria and leishmaniasis.
WHO data shows that 2 billion people There remains to be an absence of fresh drinking water. The United Nations Children’s Fund describes the issues of water scarcity and pollution, the caused as a result of severe droughts or floods. Floods specifically can bring toxins and pathogens to crops and cause foodborne illnesses. Around 600 million people worldwide are affected by this yearly. 30% of food-related deaths are children under 5 years of age.
Breathing in hot, humid air can worsen respiratory conditions similar to asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, based on the American Lung Association. explainedAnd individuals with previous cardiovascular diseases or risk aspects are higher risk of effects related to extreme heat exposureas a recent study by the Leonard Davis Institute on the University of Pennsylvania shows. These harmful health effects can include heart palpitations, dehydration, heart attacks and strokes.
In addition, a US-based study suggests that the increasing frequency and intensity of warmth waves is related to preterm births. In addition, excessive heat can particularly high risk of deaths amongst individuals with mental illness.
All in all, extreme temperatures – cold and warmth –kill 5 million people annuallya peer-reviewed study in Lancet Planetary Health Details.
As I reported last yr, more people all over the world are currently dying from cold than from heat. But climate change is causing the ratio to shift steadily: the variety of deaths from heat is increasing, while the variety of deaths from cold is decreasing.
Between 2030 and 2050, climate change is predicted cause about 250,000 additional deaths per yrmainly consequently of malnutrition, malaria, diarrhoea and warmth stress. As all the time, developing countries might be least capable of cope.
And because the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reaffirmedThe impacts of climate change on human health within the United States is not going to be felt equally by everyone. People are at various levels of risk depending on their age, economic resources, and placement.
Amid rising heat-related health risks, the Biden administration is proposing recent federal regulations to guard 36 million employees.
