Increased Risk of Work Safety Accidents During Extremely High Temperatures

Global climate change and the urban heat island effect are increasingly exposing workplaces to extreme high temperatures, but the extent to which this elevates the risk of work safety accidents remains uncertain. In this study, we introduced an environmental epidemiology approach to quantify the relationship between extreme heat and work safety accidents in Chinese cities. We found that exposure to extremely high temperature was associated with an 18.7% increase in the risk of work safety accidents, compared to the reference temperature. Notably, low-severity, road transport, and vehicle accidents, as well as regions located in temperate monsoon and tropical/subtropical monsoon zones, were susceptible to extreme heat. We also estimated that 1% of work safety accidents in our dataset could be attributed to extremely high temperatures. These findings enhance our understanding of extreme weather risks in work safety and emphasize the urgent need for effective adaptation strategies and preventive measures in city management.