ORCID Profile
0000-0001-9775-8763
Current Organisations
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat Munchen
,
National University of Singapore
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Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 04-05-2017
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 07-2018
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 24-05-2017
DOI: 10.1002/WCC.468
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2020
Publisher: American Meteorological Society
Date: 10-2018
Abstract: One of climate change’s most certain impacts is increasingly frequent and extreme heat. Heat management and climate adaptation policies generally utilize temperature and humidity thresholds to identify what constitute “extreme” conditions. In the workplace, such thresholds can be used to trigger reductions in work intensity and/or duration. In regions that routinely exceed proposed thresholds, however, this approach can be deeply problematic and raises critical questions about how frequently exposed populations already manage and mitigate the effects of extreme heat. Drawing on social practice theories, this paper repositions everyday engagements with extreme heat in terms of practices of work. It finds that bodies absorb and produce heat through practices, challenging the view that extreme heat is an “external” risk to which bodies are “exposed”. This theoretical starting point also challenges the utility of threshold-based adaptation strategies by demonstrating how heat is actively coproduced by living, performing bodies in weather. This argument is exemplified through a case study of outdoor, manual workers in Australia’s monsoon tropics, where work practices were adapted to reduce thermal load. More specifically, we find that workers “weather” work and “work” the weather to enable work to be done in extreme conditions. Our analysis of everyday heat adaptation draws attention to the generative capacities of bodies and unsettles two established separations: 1) that between climatic exposure and sensitivity, calling for a more embodied, experiential, and performed perspective and 2) that between climatic impacts and (mal)adaptation, calling for an understanding of climate adaptation, as located in everyday practices, in the management of bodies in weather.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 04-05-2015
DOI: 10.1038/NCLIMATE2623
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 06-08-2020
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
Date: 2018
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2020
DOI: 10.1016/J.APERGO.2019.102918
Abstract: Heat poses a significant occupational hazard for labour-intensive workers in hot and humid environments. Therefore, this study measured the prevalence of heat-stress symptoms and impact of heat exposure on labour-intensive industries within the Monsoonal North region of Australia. A cohort of 179 workers completed a questionnaire evaluating environmental exposure, chronic (recurring) and/or severe (synonymous with heat stroke) symptoms of heat stress, and impact within work and home settings. Workers reported both chronic (79%) and severe (47%) heat stress symptoms, with increased likelihood of chronic symptoms when exposed to heat sources (OR 1.5-1.8, p = 0.002-0.023) and decreased likelihood of both chronic and severe symptoms when exposed to air-conditioning (Chronic: OR 0.5, p = <0.001, Severe: OR 0.7, p = 0.019). Negative impacts of heat exposure were reported for both work and home environments (30-60% respectively), highlighting the need for mitigation strategies to reduce occupational heat stress in the Monsoonal North.
No related grants have been discovered for Elspeth Oppermann.