Heat Stress and Labour Productivity

The past few decades have witnessed increases in heat waves which are a result of climate change leading to a decrease in labour productivity particularly in the construction industry. The aim of this study is to provide construction companies a better understanding of the effect of increased heat stress on labour productivity so that better policies can be developed to maintain or increase employee labour productivity. The study has three objectives: to analyse and compare the present and projected summer heat conditions in Australia and Saudi, to establish how heat waves affect workers in the construction industry, and to explore strategies that construction companies can out in place to mitigate the effects of heat stress in occupational environments.

The increasing heat waves will result in reduced labour productivity in the Australian and Saudi Arabian construction industries. According to the IPCC (2014), the increasing incidents of warm spells and heat waves as a result of climate change significantly endangers the health of employees while restricting economic activities. Similarly, Parsons (2014); Sahu et al. 2013; Graff Zivin and Neidell (2014); and UNDP (2019) write that when workers are exposed to excessive health in their places of work, their health is directly and indirectly affected which potentially limits physical activity and reduces working hours thus leading to a decline in productivity. A report by the IPCC (2019) reveals that global warming is currently increasing at 0.2° C per decade due to the ongoing emissions, which implies that future workers are likely to be less productive. Such future risks influence organisations to take various measures in order to promote the productivity of their workers. Such measures include reduced work intensity and decreased working hours (Kjellstrom et al. 2016). According to Yi and Chan (2017), the severity of these effects will increase in future given climate change continues to be experienced and in greater intensity. Similarly, Stocker et al. (2014) note that the climate is getting warmer and various regions such as Asia, Australia and Europe are experiencing prolonged periods of excessive heat, which negatively affects labour productivity.

The problem that prompts this study is the decreasing labour productivity in the construction sector as influenced by climate change and increasing heat waves in particular. Altinsoy and Yildirim (2015) and UNDP (2019) posit that heat stress as a consequence of global warming is expected to continue increasing and labour productivity projected to decrease as a result of increased heat stress, which leaves a gap in literature in relation to what methods the construction industry can adopt to enhance worker productivity. In response, this study explores the methods that organisations in the Australian and Saudi construction industries can adopt to promote employee productivity despite the expected increase in heat stress. The results of this study will be important to organisations in the construction sector in that they provide the impetus to develop strategies that will increase the resilience of workers during the projected changes in climate.

Study Hypothesis

H1: An increase in the severity of heat waves will significantly lower labour productivity among construction workers

H2: Construction workers will be less productive during the summer heat conditions as compared to other months

H3: Construction firms that will adopt effective methods of enhancing the productivity of their labourers during the summer months will be more productive.

The aim of this study is to provide construction industry practitioners with a better understanding of the effect of increased heat stress on construction labour productivity so that better policies may be established to prevent heat stress and increase or maintain labour productivity in the future. The following objectives provide guidance for the study:

To analyse and compare the present and projected summer heat conditions in Australia and Saudi

To establish how heat waves affect workers in the construction industry

To explore strategies that companies in the construction industry could employ to mitigate the effects of heat stress in occupational environments

Most of the methods of mitigating the effects of heat stress in occupational environments are not effective for employees working outdoors (Lee et al. 2018; ILO 2019), which implies that in the construction sector, an increase in heat stress is unavoidably linked to a higher demand for rest, which results in decreased labour productivity (Kjellstrom et al. 2016). This study is therefore important as it will shed light on some methods that construction firms could use to enhance the productivity of workers.

Theoretical Framework

Some studies have investigated climate change over the past decades. For example, First (2019) reveal that the global mean surface temperature for the 2006-2015 decade was 0.87°C higher than the average over the 1850-1900 period. On the other hand, ILO (2019) state that the temperature of a construction site can be as high as 45 °C when the air temperature is 32 °C. Further, ICDC (2019) estimate that the anthropogenic global warming will increase by 0.2°C every decade given the ever-increasing emissions. Other studies have investigated the effect climate change has had on labour productivity. A study conducted by Chan and Yi (2016) shows that increased heat stress is a well-known occupational health hazard in the construction industry in that exposure to prolonged and intense heat reduces employees’ concentration and enthusiasm in their work, increases their irritability, and leads to heat-related conditions. On the other hand, Chinnadurai and Venugopal (2016) establish that workers in the construction industry especially those undertaking scaffolding tasks, erection of structural steel, fixing of steel bars, formwork, and pouring of concrete are known to be the most vulnerable to heat stress. In the same vein, Chan et al. (2012) write that construction workers are more vulnerable to heat stress as they work in open hours without any shade. According to First (2019), occupational heat stress affects individuals, their productivity, the performance of the construction industry, and even the local economy. Another study conducted by Kjellstrom et al. (2018) reveals that environmental heat stress has so far reduced the global labour capacity considerably in the peak months and by 2050, labour productivity will have reduced by 80%. On the other hand, Dunne et al. (2013) estimate that worker productivity might reduce by 11-27% by the end of this century in the heat-prone areas such as Asia and Caribbean. On the same note, Zander et al. (2015) write that labour productivity in construction and agriculture will decline by up to 52% between 2071 and 2100. Although very few, some studies have investigated the methods that firms in the construction industry can adopt to enhance the productivity of their workers despite the increasing heat stress. Among such studies is one conducted by Li et al. (2016) which reveals that work-break cycles, providing drinking water, work arrangement, and cool down facilities that safeguard the health and wellbeing of workers in hot environments could be effective in promoting the productivity of workers in the construction industry. This study will contribute to the existing literature through exploring methods that Australian and Saudi construction firms adopt in order to ensure their workers remain productive despite the increasing heat stress.

Methods

Research Design

In the proposed study, a review of existing research on occupational heat stress and labour productivity in the construction industry will be conducted. The study will consider research conducted in the Australia and Saudi. The study will also review preventive measures adopted by various organisations in the Australian and Saudi construction industries and the effect they have had in increasingly construction labour productivity in summer months.

Data Collection

A general scoping review will be conducted in order to identify peer-reviewed papers published and other relevant information such as governmental and non-governmental reports. According to Peters et al. (2015), scoping reviews is a way of mapping the key concepts that underpin a research area. Scoping reviews are known to have great utility for synthesising research evidence thus they are commonly used to map existing literature in specific fields (Munn et al. 2018). Scoping reviews are known to be of useful when a body of literature has not yet been comprehensively reviewed or reveals large, heterogeneous, and complex nature which cannot be reviewed using the systematic method (Peters et al. 2015). In researching for this proposal, I have noted there is very little reviews about the effect of heat stress on construction labour productivity which justifies the need to conduct a scoping review. The databases searched will include ProQuest, Ebsco, Web of Science, references of relevant peer-reviewed sources, and web-based searches which includes Google Scholar and documents published by the governments and occupational health organisations. The key words and phrases to be used include heat stress, construction workers, construction labour, heat-related illnesses, construction industry, construction labour productivity, construction workers’ productivity. The derivatives of the key words will also be used which include heat, hot, temperature, climate change, intense heat, and excessive heat. Given the limited number of scholarly articles available, the search will be broad and will not be limited by the study type or where the study was conducted. However, the study will consider articles published within the last six years (2014-2019). Other than relevant sources in the scientific literature, relevant conference papers and reports from governmental, non-governmental and inter-governmental organisations will be included. The study will consider only sources published in English language.

Data Analysis

The researcher will read the title of every article generated in the search process to determine if it is relevant to this study. For the articles considered relevant, the researcher will read through the article seeking to establish if the articles address any of the objectives of this study. The articles containing information that answer the research question will be selected for this study. Thematic analysis will be adopted for this study. Thematic analysis refers to the process of identify and patterns within qualitative data (Braun and Clarke 2012). On the other hand, Maguire and Delahunt (2017) define thematic analysis as the process of identifying, organising, and providing insight into theme or patterns across a dataset. According to (Clarke and Braun 2013), thematic analysis is not tied to a specific epistemological or theoretical perspective. For this reason, thematic analysis was prioritised for this study given scarcity of scientific articles on the research topic. The six phases of doing a thematic analysis as outlined by Braun and Clarke (2006) will be followed in this study. These phases are (1) familiarising yourself with the data, (2) generating initial codes, (3) searching for themes, (4) reviewing potential themes, (5) defining and naming themes, and (6) producing the report

References

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