Impact of heat and a rest-shade-hydration intervention program on productivity of piece-paid industrial agricultural workers at risk of chronic kidney disease of nontraditional origin

© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Occupational Hygiene Society..

OBJECTIVES: Assess the impact of environmental heat and a rest-shade-hydration (RSH) intervention against heat stress on productivity of piece-paid Mesoamerican sugarcane cutters. These workers are at a high risk of chronic kidney disease of non-traditional origin (CKDnt), from the severe heat stress they experience due to heavy work under hot conditions. RSH interventions in these populations improve kidney health outcomes, but their impact on productivity has yet to be examined.

METHODS: We accessed routine productivity data from seed (SC, N = 749) and burned (BCC, N = 535) sugarcane cutters observed over five harvest seasons with increasing RSH intervention at a large Nicaraguan sugarcane mill. Hourly field-site wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) was recorded by mill staff and summarized as a daily mean. Mixed linear regression was used to model daily productivity, adjusting for age (18-29, 30-44, and >45 years), sex, WBGT (<28, 28-29, 29-30, 30-31, and >31 °C) on the same and preceding day, harvest season (2017-18 to 2021-22), month, and acclimatization status (<1, 1-2, and >2 weeks).

RESULTS: There was an inverse dose-response relationship between SC productivity and WBGT on the same and preceding days, decreasing by approximately 3%/°C WBGT. Productivity increased during the study period, i.e. coinciding with RSH scale-up, by approximately 19% in SC and 9% in BCC.

CONCLUSION: Agricultural worker productivity was expected lower on hotter days, strengthening the interest in all stakeholders to mitigate increasing global temperatures and their impact. Despite decreasing the total time allocated for work each day, an RSH intervention appears to result in increased productivity and no apparent loss in productivity.

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2024

Erschienen:

2024

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:68

Enthalten in:

Annals of work exposures and health - 68(2024), 4 vom: 22. Apr., Seite 366-375

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Hansson, Erik [VerfasserIn]
Jakobsson, Kristina [VerfasserIn]
Glaser, Jason [VerfasserIn]
Wesseling, Catharina [VerfasserIn]
Chavarria, Denis [VerfasserIn]
Lucas, Rebekah A I [VerfasserIn]
Prince, Heath [VerfasserIn]
Wegman, David H [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext

Themen:

Chronic kidney disease
Heat stress
Intervention
Journal Article
Occupational medicine
Productivity
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Anmerkungen:

Date Completed 23.04.2024

Date Revised 26.04.2024

published: Print

Citation Status MEDLINE

doi:

10.1093/annweh/wxae007

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM368572722