TY - JOUR T1 - Research and public health prevention policies of occupational heat exposure in Italy JF - Occupational and Environmental Medicine JO - Occup Environ Med DO - 10.1136/oemed-2021-107967 SP - oemed-2021-107967 AU - Alessandro Marinaccio AU - Michela Bonafede AU - Marco Morabito A2 - , Y1 - 2022/01/12 UR - http://oem.bmj.com/content/early/2022/01/11/oemed-2021-107967.abstract N2 - High temperatures are associated with a substantial mortality burden. Globally, 5 083 173 deaths were associated with non-optimal temperatures per year in 2000–2009, accounting for 9.43% (95% CI 7.6% to 11.1%) of all deaths, of which 0.91% (95% CI 0.6% to 1.4%) were heat related.1 Excessive heat while working induces occupational health risks and reduces work capacity and labour productivity: high body temperature or dehydration causes heat exhaustion, heat stroke and in extreme cases, death.2 Preparedness and prevention strategies to reduce heat waves impacts, are strongly required and work-related risk factors consideration is crucial. Rising heat levels driven by climate change are increasing health and economic risks for large shares of the global working population.In Italy, the occupational exposure to extreme temperatures is a real concern, especially for agriculture and construction workers. Recently, a nationwide epidemiological study has been finalised, using the daily time series of work-related injuries from the Italian national workers’ compensation authority and daily air temperatures derived from satellite land surface temperature data with a 1×1 km resolution.3 The estimated overall relative risks of occupational injury for extreme heat has been estimated equal to 1.09 (95% CI 1.07 to 1.12) with an attributable number of … ER -