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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...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2022
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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. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-9266050 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2022 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
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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