How Heat Hits Hard
Heat stress is the greatest cause of weather-related fatalities, making it an environmental and occupational health hazard.
Along with racking up significant fatalities, extreme heat has severe impacts on people’s health and on the systems that support a community’s well-being, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). For example, extreme heat can increase the risk of transmission of some infectious diseases. Other impacts include the potential loss of certain utilities and medical services, as heatwaves can strain power services, resulting in power losses to health facilities, transportation, and water infrastructure.
Heat-Related Fatalities
Between 2000–2019, approximately 489,000 heat-related deaths occurred every year. Recorded deaths were highest in Asia (45 percent of all cases) and Europe (36 percent).
In Europe alone, during the summer of 2022, there were an estimated 61,672 deaths attributed to heat.
Heatwaves can be even deadlier. For example, in 2003, 70,000 people died in Europe because of a heatwave between June and August. In 2010, 56,000 people died from heat-related effects during a 44-day heatwave in the Russian Federation.
Health Impacts
When the temperatures get very high, the human body is stressed and limited in its ability to regulate its internal temperature, with the body’s heat also rising to dangerous levels. This increases the risk of heat-related illnesses, such as heat stroke.
Because heat stress forces the body to work hard to try to cool itself down, extreme heat can exacerbate underlying illnesses, including asthma, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and mental health disorders.
Other physiological factors, including age and baseline health, can affect someone’s resiliency to extreme temperatures.
“Population aging and the growing prevalence of non-communicable diseases (respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, dementia, renal disease, and musculoskeletal disease) means that populations are becoming more susceptible to negative heat impacts,” according to the WHO.
A failure to provide swift and effective medical attention to early signs of heat-related illnesses can contribute to an increase in hospitalizations, putting further strain on stretched resources.
Extreme Heat at Work
Excessive heat can also be an occupational hazard for those working indoors or outdoors.
Heat illnesses can occur even outside of a heatwave, and certain industries historically have workers who have experienced these illnesses. These include outdoor industries such as agriculture, construction (especially road, roofing, and other outdoor work), landscaping, mail and package delivery, and oil and gas well operations. Indoor industries are affected as well, especially in bakeries and kitchens, electrical utilities (particularly boiler rooms), fire service, iron and steel mills and foundries, laundries, manufacturing with local heat sources like furnaces, and warehouses.
“Each year, thousands of workers become sick from occupational heat exposure, and too many of those illnesses result in fatalities,” the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) reported. “New employees whose bodies have not had time to adjust to working in the heat are most vulnerable—nearly three out of four workers who die from heat-related causes die in their first week on the job.”
Other factors that place staff at risk of developing a heat illness include heavy physical activity, warm or hot environmental conditions, a lack of heat acclimatization, and wearing clothing that retains body heat.
Sara Mosqueda is associate editor for Security Management. Connect with her on LinkedIn or send her an email at [email protected].
