There is an urgent need to collectively identify research priorities to support policy at global, national, and workplace scales to protect workers on the frontline of climate change. In order to reduce the vulnerability of workers and increase their resilience to the impacts of climate change on health, safety, and productivity, this workshop will convene NGOs, industry representatives, worker interest groups, and researchers to identify and promote relevant evidence to support policy making and industry practice.
Climate change affects all workers, but certain subsets carry a disproportionate burden and will be the primary focus of this workshop (e.g., those in outdoor industries such as agriculture, construction, and oil and gas; as well as those working in disaster response, wildland firefighters, natural resource management and forestry). Health and safety professionals, working in conjunction with employers, must understand climate risks, undertake assessments, and be prepared to respond and adapt in order to reduce the vulnerability of workers and increase their resilience to the impacts of climate change.
Workers are experiencing negative health impacts and losing vital productivity from climate change due to exposure to excessive heat, UV radiation, workplace air pollution, vector-borne diseases, and extreme weather events. Because workers are exposed to climate-related exposures for longer durations and at greater intensities than the general public, they are at a higher risk of suffering negative health impacts. They can be thought of as the “climate canaries.” Studying their health trends can alert public health officials to the presence of diseases prior to when the general public is affected.
This workshop will bring together experts in the fields of climate change and worker health as urgent, multidisciplinary action is needed to address these risks. Agenda topics will include:
Over the course of the week, this workshop aims to make the following critical advances:
All workshop participants are invited but not required to contribute to priority workshop outputs, including:
Event Co-Chair
The attendee list and participant profiles are regularly updated. For information on participant affiliation at the time of workshop, please refer to the historical roster. If you are aware of updates needed to participant or workshop records, please notify AGCI’s workshops team.
