Context - The International Labour Organization (ILO) has come up with its latest report, ‘Ensuring safety and health at work in a changing climate’.
How workers are impacted on account of climate change?
- Agriculture workers are the worst impacted. They face regular losses because of extreme weather events like floods and droughts. Pest attacks are increasing and thereby hampering the productivity. High exposure to agro chemical has a lot of damaging effect on their health.
- Industrial workers are exposed to huge indoor air pollution. Weather extremities are increasing industrial disasters. E.g. Damage of Biogas plant due to high snow load in Germany. Excessive heat stress leads to wear and tear of machines, further increasing the risks. Overwhelming informalisation of the sector has meant little to no oversight of worker conditions.
- Construction workers are exposed to urban heat island effect, as construction is a highly urban-centric economy, with rising growth in cities. Construction workers are also the most prone to physical injuries and air pollution related health hazards, like asthma.
- Rag pickers have their own challenges. Huge amount of waste are the sources of Greenhouse gasses (GHG). Landfills catch fires due to rising temperatures. Floods carry toxic chemicals to large distance. Groundwater gets polluted in those areas.
All such things impact the worker’s health, lower down their productivity, impact their income levels.
What are the present laws & issues in India dealing with worker’s safety in this regard?
- Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 was laid down combining 13 central laws like, Factories Act, 1948, the Workmen Compensation Act, 1923, the Building and Other Construction Workers Act, 1996, the Plantations Labour Act, 1951, the Mines Act, 1952 and the Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act, 1979 etc. However, Union government is yet to officially notify its enforcement.
- Factories act defines a factory as an enterprise with “10 or more” workers, but those registered under this law are less than a quarter of a million. Majority of India’s 64 million MSMEs are not registered under this law and are therefore outside the purview of governmental inspections.
- There are no optimal standards of temperature and ventilation laid down under the acts. Air conditioning and cooling methods are not listed and whatever standards are there, they are age old. Global temperatures and weather extremity levels have changed a lot since then.
- Fertilizer subsidies and agricultural policies are designed in such manner that they incentivise excessive and irrational use of chemicals.
- Lack of regulatory authorities and real time data further adds upto the vows of workers.
What needs to be done in this regard?
- Certain model standards regarding ventilation, temperature and air conditioning must be laid down.
- Region specific amendments should be made as every region is impacted by climate change in different manners.
- Amendments must also be made for effective handling of effluents and by products.
- Weather monitoring systems must be upgraded especially for agricultural workers so that they can plan their harvest accordingly.
- Waste removal technologies must be deployed in the workplaces. For e.g. silica removal technologies at stone quarries or mines.
- Regular inspection must be there in factories. For this, the existing vacancies at inspector and clerical levels must be filled.
- Last but not the least, training and sensitization programs must run in order to prevent/ reduce such losses.
- Few researchers have also considered potential adaptations to mitigate the impact of climate change on agricultural workers, such as switching to night-time or shaded work to reduce direct solar radiation.