00:02Europe is breaking hit records.
00:04These extreme events pose a threat to people's health both at home and at work.
00:09The European Trade Union Institute, a research center affiliated with trade unions,
00:14presented a report on Thursday laying out solutions aimed at safeguarding workers' health in the face of climate change.
00:22One of the report's authors emphasizes that the danger is not limited to the south of the continent.
00:28The problem is the worst in the south, of course, that's where we see most of the accidents.
00:32At the same time, though, we have been recording the highest increases of accidents in center and north of Europe.
00:39So, south is already hot and it's a problem, but the center and the north are catching up very fast.
00:45According to the report, around 130 million workers across Europe becomes exposed to workplace heat stress,
00:52resulting in 277,000 related injuries and 230 deaths.
00:59Climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of these heat waves, which also lead to reduced work capacity.
01:06The optimum temperature to work is at 16 degrees Celsius.
01:10Beyond that, for every 1 degree Celsius, we have an average productivity loss of about 2% during work.
01:17Based on scientific evidence, the report's authors suggest that the European Union could introduce legislation
01:24specifically aimed at preventing heat waves in the workplace.
01:28And what we propose is a mandatory heat risk assessment in order to oblige the employer to assess and to
01:35identify the risks
01:36that are related to heat exposure in their workplace reality.
01:41Only knowing what we are talking about, we can be able to protect workers and prevent the risks associated to
01:50heat exposure.
01:51The researchers emphasized that heat waves are a measurable, predictable and therefore preventable phenomenon.
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