Extreme Heat

Introduction:

Maksood, rickshaw driver from Mumbai, India: The heat wave and heat gets so intense that my metal-body rickshaw feels like an oven.

Narrator: Last year was the hottest year on record. We've breached 1.5° C above industrial temperatures.

Emily, pregnant school teacher from London, UK: I got dehydrated. I panicked that something was wrong with my baby.

Narrator: We've seen a 60% increase in heat related mortality.

Iñigo, construction worker from Granada, Spain: On sites in Granada there have been cases of death from heatstroke.

Title: The Heat is On:

Ollie Jay, Professor of Heat and Health, University of Sydney, Australia: In Australia, extreme heat is responsible for $7 billion in lost productivity every year. It not only threatens our lives, but it threatens our livelihoods.

Lauren Mills, Research Manager, Climate and Health, Wellcome: We know that 2.4 billion people in the workforce will be impacted by extreme heat.

Maksood: The heat has been increasing so much that I can’t even describe it. This year in March it went up to 38, 39 degrees. Inside it becomes suffocating. The body becomes so weak you start feeling dizzy. It makes a person completely crazy, mentally.

I can’t drive the rickshaw during the day because of the heat. The only thing is that the income I could have earned during the day I’m not able to earn at night. On top of this, my daughter’s expenses, my wife’s expenses, then the household rations. I can’t manage it all.

Iñigo: We’ve had almost three months of temperatures above 40 degrees which did not happen before. We often work on the top floor of the building and there is no shade.

Professor Ollie Jay: Temperature is actually measured in the shade. Often, construction workers are exposed to direct solar radiation, which means they'll be exposed to temperatures that are at least 15° C higher. So that's like 58° instead of 43°C. That's an enormous heat load on the body.

Iñigo: My family and friends tell me I should consider quitting.

Lauren Mills: Heat waves are different in different places because people are acclimatized to different temperatures. So a heat wave in the UK above 28° C is obviously different – in Tanzania wouldn't classify a heat wave.

We know that there are certain vulnerable populations. Children are particularly vulnerable to increases in heat. Pregnant people are particularly vulnerable as well.

Emily: People don't usually think that the rainy UK can have any warm months, but actually we are starting to get a lot of heat waves and the country is not ready for that. During the summer heat wave, I was between 12 and 17 weeks pregnant. It's quite tough for a pregnant teacher anyway, let alone during a heat wave.

Lauren Mills: Rises in temperature affect pre-term birth. It affects the neuro development of babies. And so we need to know how this is impacted so that we can best protect mothers and babies.

Professor Ollie Jay: If we're going to not just survive but thrive in a warmer future, we need to reimagine the way in which we safeguard human health against the threat of extreme heat and hot weather.

Lauren Mills: We need to reduce the use of fossil fuels globally and protect those most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. But we also know that temperatures are going to continue to increase. So we need to adapt in a context-specific way.

Professor Ollie Jay: We can break up work shifts. We can change them to different times of the day to reduce heat exposure. They can be triggered by a heat alert system which is not just dependent on temperature but also integrates things like the amount of solar radiation there is, whether it's cloudy, whether it's clear.

Lauren Mills: Providing scientific evidence on how people are impacted by heat means that this evidence can then be used by policy makers to change policies.

Professor Ollie Jay: It's in the employer's interest to take extreme heat seriously. Of course, it impacts the health and well-being of their employees, but it also affects their bottom line. So, there's really no reason why they shouldn't be taking heat seriously and doing their best to try to implement evidence-based solutions that help everybody in the workplace cope with extreme heat.