In a new video collaboration with The YEARS Project, La Isla Network CEO Jason Glaser shines a spotlight on the rising dangers faced by workers exposed to extreme heat in industries such as construction, agriculture, and transportation. As global temperatures continue to rise, the risks to workers’ health and safety are escalating, with some suffering from preventable heat-related injuries and fatalities.
The video highlights not only the crucial need for workplace safety measures. Glaser emphasizes, “Nobody should get sick or die because they’re at work. The fundamentals are simple: rest, shade, hydration, and sanitation. But companies need guidance because there is no clear regulation on how much work is safe during extreme heat.”
Peter Hamill, a representative from Turner Construction, underscores the importance of balancing productivity and worker safety, noting, “A worker that feels safe on site, not threatened by weather and heat, produces the right product and the right quality.”
Monika Serrano, Resilience Program Manager at Turner Construction, highlights the complexity of heat exposure in the construction industry. “There are many trades in construction, and even within a trade, there are many different activities. The intensity of the work varies greatly, and this makes it harder to create a one-size-fits-all approach,” she said.
This collaboration seeks to raise awareness of the critical need for standardized regulations to protect workers from heat stress. Glaser concludes with a call to action, advocating for systematic change, “You really got to change the system… if we want to tackle this with the urgency it requires.”
The YEARS Project is a multimedia storytelling and climate education platform dedicated to environmental awareness. Through its series of collaborations, it highlights the most pressing issues of climate change and human impact.
La Isla Network is an occupational health research and advisory nonprofit dedicated to ending heat-related illnesses among workers and their communities worldwide. Our mission is to protect workers in a changing climate. We develop and implement data-driven worker protection and management assessment protocols to improve the resiliency of workforces and businesses to heat stress. Our work is backed by best-in-class researchers, industry leaders, and government and multilateral institutions like the ILO.
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