Higher than expected: On days with temperatures above 30 degrees, the number of work accidents increases by 7.4 percent. This is shown by a new study from the universities of Passau and Bern.
What is astonishing is that the heat affected all employees equally. “In our evaluations, we were unable to find any differences in terms of gender, age, income or industry,” say Katharina Drescher, a young economist at the University of Passau, and her co-author Benedikt Janzen from the University of Bern. Regardless of whether you work in the construction industry or as an office worker – accidents at work increased equally in both groups.
A heat risk assessment is not only mandatory for outdoor workplaces, but for every workplace – including in the office.
SWEATING MAKES YOU TIRED AND UNABLE TO CONCENTRATE
This is all the more important because employees often underestimate their own heat risk and therefore do not behave appropriately, as a special survey on heat by the University of Erfurt has shown. Two thirds of those surveyed had risk factors, often several. However, only a third perceived themselves as a risk person – at least a third of those surveyed underestimated their own heat risk. Anyone who does not know their risk status shows less heat protection behavior and thus puts themselves in serious danger.
A real danger, as the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) determined using data analysis and computer models. Calculated based on the number of inhabitants, there have so far been 98 heat deaths per million inhabitants in Germany. This puts Germany in 13th place out of 35 European countries. These are “casualty figures like those in a state of war,” says Hanns-Christian Gunga, professor emeritus at the Charité in Berlin.
How many of your employees underestimate their own heat risk? The number from Erfurt suggests that there are more than you think.
Don’t let it get to that point. Create a risk assessment for all workplaces and raise the awareness of your employees with a company-specific heat protection strategy. And then you turn lots of little adjustment screws to reduce the heat hazards. One of the most effective and quickest measures to implement is individual air conditioning with E.COOLINE cooling clothing. Whether it’s a cooling vest, a T-shirt, a cooling headgear or a scarf.
