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The ongoing heat wave across the country has made the current summer unbearable due to global climate change. And that is caused mostly by human action in the name of development. Over the decades, nations worldwide have compromised the balance of nature and the environment. Forests have been destroyed, tresses have been felled, rivers have been polluted, and humans have degraded soils to construct physical infrastructures. Bangladesh is also not far behind, and the destruction of natural-ecological balance is rampant. Despite warnings from scientists, experts and civil society members, environment-friendly development policies and activities are largely absent in the country. Now, the cost of not paying attention to the environment is rising. The spread of heat waves is the cost. People have been suffering more and there has been no respite from it. Labourers and workers bear the maximum burden as they rely on manual labour for their livelihoods.
Globally, workers now find themselves at an increased risk of exposure to hazards such as excessive heat, ultraviolet radiation, extreme weather events and air pollution due to intensified changes in climate. They are also vulnerable to vector-borne diseases. Against the backdrop, the International Labour Organization (ILO) last week launched a report titled "Ensuring safety and health at work in a changing climate", which reveals alarming new data on the impact of climate change on workers' safety and health. The report is launched in the context of today's observance of World Day for Safety and Health at Work 2024. Since 2003, ILO has been observing the day, April 28, annually. It is also the International Commemoration Day for Dead and Injured Workers, organised globally by the trade union movement since 1996.
The latest report depicted an alarming picture. It showed that more than 70 per cent of the global workforce is at risk of exposure to climate-change-related health hazards. The number is more than 2.4 billion (out of a worldwide workforce of 3.4 billion) who are 'likely to be exposed to excessive heat at some point during their work,' according to the report. It also estimated that 18,970 lives and 2.09 million disability-adjusted life years are lost annually due to the 22.87 million occupational injuries, and these are largely attributable to excessive heat. Also, 26.2 million people worldwide living with chronic kidney disease linked to workplace heat stress, it further added.
The more alarming thing is that the impact of climate change on workers goes well beyond exposure to excessive heat. As mentioned in the report, there is a 'cocktail of hazards', which include exposure to UV radiation, workplace air pollution, pesticides, and parasitic and vector-borne diseases. All these create dangerous health conditions for the workers.
The situation in Bangladesh is not different from that in other parts of the world, although the report did not provide a country-specific status. The latest quarterly labour force survey, conducted and released by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), showed that the country's total workforce stood at 73.45 million at the end of 2023, of which 2.47 million or 3.36 per cent are unemployed. Of the employed workforce, around 45 per cent are involved in the agriculture, forestry and fishing sectors. Most workers in these sectors also have to work in the field, so their exposure to heat is higher. BBS data also showed that 17 per cent of the employed are working in the manufacturing and other industrial sectors, and 38 per cent are in the services sectors.
The report of the annual labour force survey for 2022 provided a better scenario of the workers' exposures to various work-related hazards. It showed that 31 per cent of the workers face exposure to dust, fumes, noise or vibration whereas 30 per cent to extreme cold or heat. In most of the cases these hazards increase due to excessive rise in day temperature and things may turn worse when heatwave sweeps across the country.
The sufferings of the workers are, however, quite visible to all. As harvesting boro rice is in full swing, farmers and workers face serious difficulty due to persistent heat waves. In some parts of the country, they work at night to avoid excessive heat. Day labourers have to take the risk of heatstroke to earn their livelihoods. Some are even compromising their livelihood by not going to work just to avoid unbearable heat. Those who work indoors are also not free from heat stress as most do not have minimum cooling facilities. Overall, the excessive heat is reducing the productivity of the workers. A study conducted by Duke University two years back found that Bangladesh loses 7 billion working hours annually due to excessive heat.
Besides physical injuries, psychological agonies are also there due to excessive temperature. The ILO report said that exposure to extreme weather events and climate-related disasters may cause or exacerbate mental health effects such as stress, anxiety, depression, substance abuse, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and suicide. "Indeed, experiences from a number of regions across the world, including Bangladesh, the Philippines and the Caribbean, demonstrate how extreme climate events are linked with an increased burden of PTSD, depression, anxiety, stress and suicide in people of all ages," it added.
Unfortunately, mental stress at workplace is still not considered a a serious problem in the country. Which is why, there is also no preparations to address the problem. Self-employed workers like rickshaw-pullers, shopkeepers, and vendors also do not understand the negative impact of mental stress. So, it becomes another growing challenge for the productivity of the workers.
A big question is how to reduce the hazards and stresses the workers face. Unfortunately, there is no short-cut answer to it. The ILO report mentioned that some countries have implemented new laws to specifically address excessive heat in the working environment. It also outlined a series of immediate and long-term initiatives, such as medical surveillance and rapid shifts to green technology. The government needs to weigh different options as suggested in the ILO report to design an effective policy for protection of workers.