Climate Change and Occupational Safety and Health: Establishing a Preliminary Framework

Details

• Personal Author:
  Chun H ; Schulte, Paul A.
• Description:
  The relationship between global climate change and occupational safety and health has not been extensively characterized. To begin such an effort, it may be useful to develop a framework for identifying how climate change could affect the workplace; workers; and occupational morbidity, mortality, and injury. This article develops such a framework based on a review of the published scientific literature from 1988-2008 that includes climatic effects, their interaction with occupational hazards, and their manifestation in the working population. Seven categories of climate-related hazards are identified: (1) increased ambient temperature, (2) air pollution, (3) ultraviolet exposure, (4) extreme weather, (5) vector-borne diseases and expanded habitats, (6) industrial transitions and emerging industries; and (7) changes in the built environment. This review indicates that while climate change may result in increasing the prevalence, distribution, and severity of known occupational hazards, there is no evidence of unique or previously unknown hazards. However, such a possibility should not be excluded, since there is potential for interactions of known hazards and new conditions leading to new hazards and risks. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Air Pollution Air Pollution, Indoor Biological Factors Chemistry Environmental Exposure Environmental Monitoring Environmental Pollution Manufacturing And Industrial Facilities Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Risk Assessment Safety Ventilation Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Air-quality Author Keywords: Biological Hazards Biological-effects Biological-factors Biological-monitoring Biological-systems Biostatistics Chemical-properties Chemical-reactions Climate Change Environmental-contamination Environmental-exposure Environmental-hazards Environmental-physiology Environmental-pollution Exposure-assessment Exposure-levels Exposure-methods Heat Stress Industrial-environment Industrial-exposures Industrial-hazards Industrial-processes Industrial-psychology Industrial-safety Industrial-ventilation Injury-prevention Occupational-exposure Occupational-hazards Occupational-health Occupational-sociology Risk-analysis Statistical-analysis UV Radiation Work-analysis Work-areas Work-environment Work-operations Work-organization Work-practices Worker-health Worker Health Workplace-studies

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• ISSN:
  1545-9624
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  EID - Education and Information Division
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  6
• Issue:
  9
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20035603
• Citation:
  J Occup Environ Hyg 2009 Sep; 6(9):542-554
• Contact Point Address:
  Paul A. Schulte, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4676 Columbia Parkway, MS C-14, Cincinnati, OH 45226
• Email:
  PSchulte@cdc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2009
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:a31119311ec956ff477dcfaf13c37c999bc98bad199c0ff5efbebedb49df39c44a9236aeaf616bf2e0ecdfd15b8338ff5032c15198066552d0652d0c7c37ed22
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/187407/cdc_187407_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 590.08 KB ]