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Workers’ Perception Heat Stress: Results from a Pilot Study Conducted in Italy during the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020

Many workers are exposed to the effects of heat and often to extreme temperatures. Heat stress has been further aggravated during the COVID-19 pandemic by the use of personal protective equipment to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, workers’ risk perception of heat stress is often low, with neg...

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Autores principales: Bonafede, Michela, Levi, Miriam, Pietrafesa, Emma, Binazzi, Alessandra, Marinaccio, Alessandro, Morabito, Marco, Pinto, Iole, de’ Donato, Francesca, Grasso, Valentina, Costantini, Tiziano, Messeri, Alessandro
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9266050/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35805854
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19138196
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author Bonafede, Michela
Levi, Miriam
Pietrafesa, Emma
Binazzi, Alessandra
Marinaccio, Alessandro
Morabito, Marco
Pinto, Iole
de’ Donato, Francesca
Grasso, Valentina
Costantini, Tiziano
Messeri, Alessandro
author_facet Bonafede, Michela
Levi, Miriam
Pietrafesa, Emma
Binazzi, Alessandra
Marinaccio, Alessandro
Morabito, Marco
Pinto, Iole
de’ Donato, Francesca
Grasso, Valentina
Costantini, Tiziano
Messeri, Alessandro
author_sort Bonafede, Michela
collection PubMed
description Many workers are exposed to the effects of heat and often to extreme temperatures. Heat stress has been further aggravated during the COVID-19 pandemic by the use of personal protective equipment to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, workers’ risk perception of heat stress is often low, with negative effects on their health and productivity. The study aims to identify workers’ needs and gaps in knowledge, suggesting the adaptation of measures that best comply with the needs of both workers and employers. A cross-sectional online questionnaire survey was conducted in Italy in the hottest months of 2020 (June–October) through different multimedia channels. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics; analytical tests and analysis of variance were used to evaluate differences between groups of workers. In total, 345 questionnaires were collected and analyzed. The whole sample of respondents declared that heat is an important contributor to productivity loss and 83% of workers did not receive heat warnings from their employer. In this context, the internet is considered as the main source of information about heat-related illness in the workplace. Results highlight the need to increase workers’ perception of heat stress in the workplace to safeguard their health and productivity. About two-thirds of the sample stated that working in the sun without access to shaded areas, working indoors without adequate ventilation, and nearby fire, steam, and hot surfaces, represent the main injuries’ risk factors.
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spelling pubmed-92660502022-07-09 Workers’ Perception Heat Stress: Results from a Pilot Study Conducted in Italy during the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020 Bonafede, Michela Levi, Miriam Pietrafesa, Emma Binazzi, Alessandra Marinaccio, Alessandro Morabito, Marco Pinto, Iole de’ Donato, Francesca Grasso, Valentina Costantini, Tiziano Messeri, Alessandro Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Many workers are exposed to the effects of heat and often to extreme temperatures. Heat stress has been further aggravated during the COVID-19 pandemic by the use of personal protective equipment to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, workers’ risk perception of heat stress is often low, with negative effects on their health and productivity. The study aims to identify workers’ needs and gaps in knowledge, suggesting the adaptation of measures that best comply with the needs of both workers and employers. A cross-sectional online questionnaire survey was conducted in Italy in the hottest months of 2020 (June–October) through different multimedia channels. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics; analytical tests and analysis of variance were used to evaluate differences between groups of workers. In total, 345 questionnaires were collected and analyzed. The whole sample of respondents declared that heat is an important contributor to productivity loss and 83% of workers did not receive heat warnings from their employer. In this context, the internet is considered as the main source of information about heat-related illness in the workplace. Results highlight the need to increase workers’ perception of heat stress in the workplace to safeguard their health and productivity. About two-thirds of the sample stated that working in the sun without access to shaded areas, working indoors without adequate ventilation, and nearby fire, steam, and hot surfaces, represent the main injuries’ risk factors. MDPI 2022-07-04 /pmc/articles/PMC9266050/ /pubmed/35805854 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19138196 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Bonafede, Michela
Levi, Miriam
Pietrafesa, Emma
Binazzi, Alessandra
Marinaccio, Alessandro
Morabito, Marco
Pinto, Iole
de’ Donato, Francesca
Grasso, Valentina
Costantini, Tiziano
Messeri, Alessandro
Workers’ Perception Heat Stress: Results from a Pilot Study Conducted in Italy during the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020
title Workers’ Perception Heat Stress: Results from a Pilot Study Conducted in Italy during the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020
title_full Workers’ Perception Heat Stress: Results from a Pilot Study Conducted in Italy during the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020
title_fullStr Workers’ Perception Heat Stress: Results from a Pilot Study Conducted in Italy during the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020
title_full_unstemmed Workers’ Perception Heat Stress: Results from a Pilot Study Conducted in Italy during the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020
title_short Workers’ Perception Heat Stress: Results from a Pilot Study Conducted in Italy during the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020
title_sort workers’ perception heat stress: results from a pilot study conducted in italy during the covid-19 pandemic in 2020
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9266050/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35805854
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19138196
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