It’s coming summer heat with the temperatures in rise. And the world of Work is alarmed, especially for the workers’ health. “If we do not change organizational and protective methods for those who are directly exposed to the sun, both the risk of heat stroke and therefore injuries, often deadlyand the risk of occupational disease,” he says Fillea Cgil which launches a new appeal a month after the urgent request to the government for an adequate one regulatory intervention with measures to protect workers.
“In the hottest hours we can no longer chase the emergency. From some local administrations the first ordinances which prohibit work above the 35 degreesbut it’s not enough,” he says Giulia Bartoli, national secretary of Fillea CGIL which represents workers in the construction sector. “We need a serious and structural regulatory intervention that definitively recognizes access to construction and stone workers redundancy fund For climatic events”.
A season, the summer one, which mainly exposes workers with outdoor tasks to continuous injuries – even fatal ones – connected to super high temperatures. “Worker protection must be one priority“, explains the secretary Fillea Cgil in a note Alessia Gambassi. “Extreme heat events, as we now know, can cause significant health problems such as heat stroke and other heat-related illnesses heat stress – continues – Workers who carry out their duties outdoors, and we are referring in particular to builders and quarrymen, are also at risk of a greater exposure to UV rays resulting in the possibility of sunburn solar and ultimately also the development of serious skin diseases“.
And the first steps towards protecting the health of workers come from Calabria region. The governor Roberto Occhiutoin fact, issued an order last Saturday with which it ordered the ban on external work in the hottest hours of the day, in particular from 12.30 to 16. The measure, which takes effect immediately, will remain in force for the entire summer season, until August 31st and will concern the agricultural, horticultural, construction and related sectors “in conditions of prolonged exposure of workers to the sun”.
The ordinance also underlines that “the rise in temperatures makes carrying out work activities risky, especially in sectors where work is carried out mainly outdoors”. Not only. “High air temperature, humidity and prolonged exposure to the sun represent a danger for the health of workers, exposed for long periods of time to solar radiation and therefore at risk of thermal stress And heat stroke with results too lethal”.
