Occupational safety and health response to climate-related hazards

A potentially useful framework for considering the relationship between occupational safety and health and climate change identifies seven climate-related hazards: (1) increased ambient temperature, (2) air pollution, (3) ultraviolet exposure, (4) extreme weather, (5) vector-borne diseases and expanded habitats, (6) industrial transitions and emerging industries; and (7) changes in the built environment.  While this framework is evidence based, to date with notable exceptions in the area of heat stress, most of the climate change research has focused on the health of the general population rather than assess how climate change has or will affect workers.  It appears climate change may result in increasing the prevalence, distribution, and severity of known occupational hazards.  However, it is not known if any new unrecognized hazards will arise.  Given this background, what should be the occupational safety and health community’s response to the increased likelihood that climate change will affect the prevalence, severity, and distribution of occupational hazards?  What information and tools are needed to help protect workers from these growing constellations of hazards?  In this paper, those questions are considered in the areas of research, surveillance, risk assessment, and risk management.