Cambiamento Climatico, Alte Temperature E Incidenti Sul Lavoro In Italia: Una Prospettiva Di Genere

Climate change is producing significant transformations in the labor market, intensifying inequalities due to its heterogeneous effects. Our study provides an empirical analysis for Italy on the causal relationship between high temperatures and work-related injuries, at the provincial and daily levels, for the period 2014-2022. We use the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT), a more complex temperature indicator that incorporates air temperature, humidity, radiant heat, and air velocity and is therefore a stronger measure of heat stress at the workplace than air temperature alone. The empirical analysis confirms that the risk of work-related injuries in humid and hot environments increases significantly, for both male and female employees. We also find that the impact of heat on occupational injuries is increasing over time for the female population, raising new concerns for gender equality under the dimension of workplace health and safety.