Automobile Access

Bike Lane Access

Traffic Volume

Transportation

Diesel Particulate Matter

Fine Particulate Matter (PM2.5)

Ozone

Clean Environment

Park Access

Tree Canopy

Neighborhood

Above Poverty

Employed

Per Capita Income

Economic

Census Response

Voting

Social

Insured Adults

Healthcare Access

Homeownership

Housing Habitability

Severely Cost Burdened Low-Income Homeowners

Severely Cost Burdened Low-Income Renters

Uncrowded Housing

Housing

Bachelor's Education

High School Enrollment

Preschool Enrollment

Education

Outdoor Workers

Supermarket Access

Two Parent Households

Library Access

Safe Drinking Water

Public Transit Access

Decision Support

Every worker should be safe from heat-related health impacts and other workplace hazards. Working outdoors increases workers’ exposure to the extreme heat, poor air quality, diseases transmitted by ticks and mosquitos, industrial exposures, and injury. These risks are all exacerbated by climate change. When exposed to extreme and prolonged heat, people experience heat-related illnesses such as heat stress, heat exhaustion, heat stroke (which if not promptly and properly treated can be fatal) and safety lapses leading to injury. High heat can also make pre-existing cardiovascular, respiratory and other conditions worse, and encourage the formation of ozone in polluted areas.

 All workers, including those who work within non-air conditioned buildings, face health risks. Yet workers in construction, agriculture, mining, refining, forestry, and fishing industries are at particular risk of heat-related health impacts. Outdoor work may be especially dangerous for those who are undocumented, do not speak English, or otherwise lack control over their working conditions.

 Risks are intensified for workers who are unused to working outdoors or in high-heat conditions. Finally, outdoor workers may be affected by other climate-related impacts such as drought resulting in agricultural losses and unemployment, or first responders fighting wildfires or responding to floods.

This indicator measures the percent of adults (over 16 years old) who work outdoors. 

“Resilience” is defined as “the capacity of any entity – an individual, a community, an organization, or a natural system – to prepare for disruptions, to recover from shocks and stresses, and to adapt and grow from a disruptive

Wolch, J. R., Byrne, J., & Newell, J. P. (2014). Urban green space, public health, and environmental justice: The challenge of making cities ‘just green enough.’ Landscape and Urban Planning, 125, 234–244. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2014.01.017

Knight, T., Price, S., Bowler, D., Hookway, A., King, S., Konno, K., & Richter, R. L. (2021). How effective is ‘greening’ of urban areas in reducing human exposure to ground-level ozone concentrations, UV exposure and the ‘Urban Heat Island Effect’? An updated systematic review. Environmental Evidence, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13750-021-00226-y

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2018, August). Estimating the environmental effects of green roofs: A case study in Kansas City, Missouri. EPA. Retrieved from https://www.epa.gov/heatislands/estimating-environmental-effects-green-roofs-case-study-kansas-city-missouri

Younger, M., Morrow-Almeida, H. R., Vindigni, S. M., & Dannenberg, A. L. (2008). The built environment, climate change, and health: Opportunities for co-benefits. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 35(5), 517–526. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2008.08.017

English, P., Fitzsimmons, K., Hoshiko, S., Kim , T., Margolis, H., McKone, T., Rotkin-Ellman, M., Solomon, G., Trent, R., & Ross, Z. (2007). Public health impacts of climate change in California: Community vulnerability assessments and adaptation strategies. EHIB. Retrieved from https://ehib.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Heat_Vulnerability_2007.pdf

California Department of Public Health. (2016, December 5). Building resilience against climate effects. Retrieved from https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/OHE/CDPH%20Document%20Library/CHVIs/BRACE_OutdoorsWorkers_Narrative_790_12-5-2016.pdf

U.S. Global Change Research Program. (2016, April 4). The impacts of climate change on human health in the United States: A scientific assessment. Retrieved from https://health2016.globalchange.gov/downloads

Cohen, D. A., Han, B., Isacoff, J., Shulaker, B., Williamson, S., Marsh, T., McKenzie, T. L., Weir, M., & Bhatia, R. (2015). Impact of park renovations on park use and park-based physical activity. Journal of Physical Activity & Health, 12(2), 289–295. https://doi.org/10.1123/jpah.2013-0165

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2008). Reducing Heat Islands: Compendium of Strategies- Cool Roofs. Retrieved from: https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2014-06/documents/coolroofscompendium.pdf

Addressing the health impacts of climate change on outdoor workers requires a range of measures designed to prepare communities and households for extreme heat and to increase resilience.

Local jurisdictions can reduce the health impacts of extreme heat by using these planning processes to understand likely climate changes and impacts, assess vulnerability, and craft interventions. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 

Building Resilience Against Climate Effects (BRACE) Framework

 offers guidance for health agencies and others seeking to address the health effects of climate change.

Assessing vulnerability to climate impacts is a particularly important step in resilience planning. While climate change impacts all Utahns, some individuals and families are more impacted, and have fewer resources to draw upon to help them adapt. 

The health impacts of climate change often deepen existing social inequities—magnifying or layering new risks on top of economic, social, environmental, biological, and health disparities

 is a five-step process that allows health officials to develop strategies and programs to help communities prepare for the health effects of climate change. The 

Utah Environmental Public Health Tracking

 data can be used for track indicators. The 

 can also be used to assess underlying social vulnerabilities at the census tract level.

Actions designed to improve climate resilience also provide the opportunity to maximize additional health or quality of life benefits that can be achieved in addition to increased resilience. Heat adaptation measures designed to safeguard outdoor workers offer a number of benefits. For instance, efforts to create heat-resilient workplaces can work in partnership with other efforts to educate, regulate, organize, or otherwise protect workers from occupational health and safety concerns. Urban greening/cooling and weatherization/energy efficiency upgrades can provide job opportunities in communities with high rates of unemployment. Urban greening, green infrastructure, and compact development for healthy communities can also provide opportunities for healthy recreation and transportation and manage wastewater. Local governments should prioritize interventions that minimize risk in communities most likely to be impacted, while maximizing multiple benefits that support healthier community conditions.

Resilience efforts should prioritize the participation of community members in each step of the process. This will help ensure that community standards, expectations and requirements are effectively addressed, while building buy-in and support for resilience measures, and improving community capacity to envision and address climate impacts. 

In the short term, jurisdictions with a high percentage of outdoor workers should make sure they are 

 for heat events, by reviewing and improving emergency response plans and systems to warn and protect residents and workers during extreme heat events. When heat events strike, effective and targeted 

 systems should be in place that place special emphasis on protecting outdoor workers. Jurisdictions can also help ensure that workers have 

 with shade, water, and health-protective work practices.

In the longer term, local governments--especially in urban or suburban areas--can create 

 by prioritizing cool infrastructure and recreation facilitates, 

 that provide shade and manage storm water, and 

 strategies to further mitigate the heat-island effect. They can also help foster 

 which has been shown to reduce social vulnerability and the health impacts of climate events. 

Workplaces should support worker safety and health during heat events with shade, water, and health-protective practices.

Equity

Sufficient Evidence

Workplace Heat Standards

Best Practice

Workplace Heat Advisories

Labor Organizing

Promising

Farm Worker Housing

Plan for walkable, compact, mixed-use neighborhoods with affordable housing choices near transit to reduce paved surfaces and vehicle miles traveled, mitigate the heat-island effect, and keep neighborhoods and workplaces cool.

Healthy Neighborhoods

Pollution

Climate

Community Engagement and Connection

Transit-Oriented Affordable Housing

Emerging

Cool Transit Facilities

Strong Evidence

Parking Requirements

Reduce the heat-island effect, and help workers stay safe with cool infrastructure and recreation facilities.  

Cool Pavements

Cool Roofs

Cool Recreation Facilities

Support community and worker engagement, social connections, and climate awareness, which have been shown to reduce social vulnerability and the health impacts of climate events. Reduce the heat-island effect, and help workers stay safe with cool infrastructure and recreation facilities.

Capacity Building and Technical Assistance Programs

Community-Based Resilience Planning Processes

Community Organizing

Use natural systems to protect workers by reducing heat-island effects and providing shade.

Green Roofs

Physical Activity

Urban Greening

When heat events strike, effective and targeted systems should be in place, with special emphasis on protecting outdoor workers.

Cooling Centers

Transportation to Emergency Facilities

High Heat Warning Systems

Local governments should get ready by reviewing and improving emergency response plans and systems to warn and protect residents and workers during heat events.

Policy Guide

Outdoor Workers

References