CORVALLIS, Ore. — We've had a couple of rough summer seasons the past few years, with deadly record high heat waves and long hot dry spells like we've been experiencing this October.
Now the results of a study from researchers at Oregon State University's College of Public Health and Human Sciences shows traumatic injuries of Oregon workers in the agricultural and construction industries are significantly higher during periods of high heat compared with periods of more moderate weather.
“And essentially the biggest take away is that when temperatures got above 75 degrees, we saw an increase of 15-29% for injury risk,” said Richard Evoy, lead author of the recently released research paper.
As part of his PhD dissertation, Evoy and others looked at 92,000 injury claims from Oregon workers compensation reports spanning ten years from 2009-2018 of on-the-job injuries.
“And we only looked at ones that essentially occurred during the course of a work shift, so it's not a cumulative injury, it's one that happens during the work shift,” explained Evoy
The researcher stressed that this is a big overview study, which doesn't break down specific cases. But again, it does show turning up the heat turns up the injury numbers too.
RELATED: OSHA: Hundreds of workers filed heat-related complains over summer
Beyond temperature increases, the study also looked at the effect of wildfire smoke on injuries. Researchers found that by itself, smoke in the air was strongly associated with an increased risk of injury. But incorporating the heat index, too, smoke's effect dropped off.
More research is needed on that. In fact, the authors of this study hope it spurs more on-the-ground research, leading to more ways to protect workers and others from our climate reality.
“We need to go out into the field and do more studies that are actually measuring these impacts and exposures that workers are feeling in their workplaces and how it affects their health, and also their risk of sustaining an injury while they're at work.”