Health vs. wealth: Employer, employee and policy-maker perspectives on occupational heat stress across multiple European industries.

Successful implementation of cooling strategies obviously depends on identifying effective interventions, but in industrial settings, it is equally important to consider feasibility and economic viability. Many cooling interventions are available, but the decision processes affecting adoption by end-users are not well elucidated. We therefore arranged two series of meetings with stakeholders to identify knowledge gaps, receive feedback on proposed cooling interventions, and discuss factors affecting implementation of heat-health interventions.

The HEAT-SHIELD project - Perspectives from an inter-sectoral approach to occupational heat stress.

Objectives: To provide perspectives from the HEAT-SHIELD project (www.heat-shield.eu): a multi-national, inter-sectoral, and cross-disciplinary initiative, incorporating twenty European research institutions, as well as occupational health and industrial partners, on solutions to combat negative health and productivity effects caused by working on a warmer world.

Steps Towards Comprehensive Heat Communication in the Frame of a Heat Health Warning System in Slovenia.

Occupational heat stress has an important negative impact on the well-being, health and productivity of workers and should; therefore, be recognized as a public health issue in Europe. There is no comprehensive heat health warning system in Slovenia combining public health measures with meteorological forecasts. The aim of this research was to provide insight into the development of such a system in Slovenia, turning the communication from the current meteoalarm into a broader system that has more information for different social groups.

Heat Waves Occurrence and Outdoor Workers' Self-assessment of Heat Stress in Slovenia and Greece.

Changing patterns of heat waves are part of the global warming effect and the importance of changes is reinforced by their negative impact on society. Firstly, heat waves were analyzed in Brnik (Slovenia) and Larisa (Greece) in the period 1981⁻2017 to reflect the environment which workers are exposed to. Secondly, outdoor workers (70 from Greece, 216 from Slovenia) provided a self-assessment of heat stress.

The effect of hot days on occupational heat stress in the manufacturing industry: implications for workers' well-being and productivity.

Climate change is expected to exacerbate heat stress at the workplace in temperate regions, such as Slovenia. It is therefore of paramount importance to study present and future summer heat conditions and analyze the impact of heat on workers. A set of climate indices based on summer mean (Tmean) and maximum (Tmax) air temperatures, such as the number of hot days (HD: Tmax above 30 °C), and Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) were used to account for heat conditions in Slovenia at six locations in the period 1981-2010.

Time-motion analysis as a novel approach for evaluating the impact of environmental heat exposure on labor loss in agriculture workers.

: In this study we (i) introduced time-motion analysis for assessing the impact of workplace heat on the work shift time spent doing labor (WTL) of grape-picking workers, (ii) examined whether seasonal environmental differences can influence their WTL, and (iii) investigated whether their WTL can be assessed by monitoring productivity or the vineyard manager's estimate of WTL. : Seven grape-picking workers were assessed during the summer and/or autumn via video throughout four work shifts. : Air temperature (26.

Influence of daily individual meteorological parameters on the incidence of acute coronary syndrome.

Background: A nationwide study was conducted to explore the short term association between daily individual meteorological parameters and the incidence of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) treated with coronary emergency catheter interventions in the Republic of Slovenia, a south-central European country.

Method: We linked meteorological data with daily ACS incidence for the entire population of Slovenia, for the population over 65 years of age and for the population under 65 years of age. Data were collected daily for a period of 4 years from 1 January 2008 to 31 December 2011.

Do variations in leaf phenology affect radial growth variations in Fagus sylvatica?

We used a dendrochronological and leaf phenology network of European beech (Fagus sylvatica) in Slovenia, a transitional area between Mediterranean, Alpine and continental climatic regimes, for the period 1955-2007 to test whether year to year variations in leaf unfolding and canopy duration (i.e. time between leaf unfolding and colouring) influence radial growth (annual xylem production and tree ring widths) and if such influences are more pronounced at higher altitudes.

The response of Corylus avellana L. phenology to rising temperature in north-eastern Slovenia.

Knowledge of plant-weather relationships can improve crop management, resulting in higher quality and more stable crop yields. The annual timing of spring phenophases in mid-latitudes is largely a response to temperature, and reflects the thermal conditions of previous months. The effect of air temperature on the variability of hazelnut (Corylus avellana L.

Reconstructing dry and wet summers in SE Slovenia from oak tree-ring series.

We present a reconstruction of the June weather conditions in SE Slovenia from 1497 to 2003 based on the De Martonne aridity index (AI). The AI were derived from oak (Quercus spp.) tree-ring series of living trees and historic wood, which exhibited a clear response to June precipitation (positive) and temperature (negative).

Statistical downscaling of general-circulation-model- simulated average monthly air temperature to the beginning of flowering of the dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) in Slovenia.

Phenological observations are a valuable source of information for investigating the relationship between climate variation and plant development. Potential climate change in the future will shift the occurrence of phenological phases. Information about future climate conditions is needed in order to estimate this shift.