The HEAT-SHIELD project – perspectives from an inter-sectoral approach to occupational heat stress

Occupational heat stress (OH-Stress) is a major societal challenge associated with climate change, as intensified thermal stress directly impacts worker-health and reduces productivity in key industries, causing serious socioeconomic ramifications. This paper was invited to provide perspectives from the HEAT-SHIELD project: a multi-national, inter-sectoral, and cross-disciplinary initiative, incorporating twenty European research institutions, as well as occupational health and industrial partners, dedicated to reducing health and productivity impairments associated with working in a warming world (see www.heat-shield.eu for further information). This invited review will primarily focus on the methodological advancements we developed allowing climate forecast models to incorporate humidity, wind and solar radiation to the traditional temperature-based climate projections, providing the basis for timely, policy-relevant, industry-specific and individualized information. Further, we provide an overview of the industry-specific guidelines we developed regarding technical and biophysical cooling solutions considering effectiveness, cost and the practical implementation potential in outdoor and indoor settings, in addition to field-testing of selected solutions with time-motion analyses and bio-physical evaluations. All recommendations were adjusted following feedback from workshops with employers, employees and adjacent stakeholders such as local or national health policy makers. The cross-scientific approach was also used for providing policy-relevant information based on socio-economic analyses and identification of vulnerable regions considered to be more relevant for political actions than average continental calculations. From the HEAT-SHIELD experiences developed within European settings, we discuss how this inter-sectoral approach may be adopted or translated into actionable knowledge across continents where workers and societies are affected by escalating environmental temperatures.