Exposure to heat at work: development of a quantitative European job exposure matrix (heat JEM).

ABSTRACT:

Objective

With climate change exacerbating occupational heat stress, objective and systematic exposure assessment is essential for epidemiological studies. We developed a job exposure matrix (JEM) to assign occupational heat stress exposure across Europe.

Methods

Aligned with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO: 7243, 8996 and 9920), the heat JEM provides region- and year-specific estimates of annual heat stress hours by job title, using the International Standard Classification of Occupations 1988 for Europe [ISCO-88(COM)]. Heat stress was defined as wet bulb globe temperature effective (WBGT_eff) exceeding WBGT reference (WBGT_ref). Outdoor and indoor WBGT were determined using historical, region-specific hourly meteorological data (

SUBMITTER: de Crom TOE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12767608 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature