Dataset Information

Retrofitting passive cooling strategies to combat heat stress in the face of climate change: A case study of a ready-made garment factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

ABSTRACT: The ready-made garment industry is critical to the Bangladesh economy. There is an urgent need to improve current working conditions and build capacity for heat mitigation as conditions worsen due to climate change. We modelled a typical, mid-sized, non-air-conditioned factory in Bangladesh and simulated how the indoor thermal environment is altered by four rooftop retrofits (1. extensive green roof, 2. rooftop shading, 3. white cool roof, 4. insulated white cool roof) on present-day and future decades under different climate scenarios. Simulations showed that all strategies reduce indoor air temperatures by around 2 °C on average and reduce the number of present-day annual work-hours during which wetbulb globe temperature exceeds the standardised limits for moderate work rates by up to 603 h - the equivalent of 75 (8 h) working days per year. By 2050 under a high-emissions scenario, indoor conditions with a rooftop intervention are comparable to present-day conditions. To reduce the growing need for carbon-intensive air-conditioning, sustainable heat mitigation strategies need to be incorporated into a wider range of solutions at the individual, building, and urban level. The results presented here have implications for factory planning and retrofit design, and may inform policies targeting worker health, well-being, and productivity.

SUBMITTER: Bach AJE

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7614966 | biostudies-literature | 2023 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Retrofitting passive cooling strategies to combat heat stress in the face of climate change: A case study of a ready-made garment factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Bach Aaron J E AJE Palutikof Jean P JP Tonmoy Fahim N FN Smallcombe James W JW Rutherford Shannon S Joarder Ashikur R AR Hossain Monir M Jay Ollie O

Energy and buildings 20230501

The ready-made garment industry is critical to the Bangladesh economy. There is an urgent need to improve current working conditions and build capacity for heat mitigation as conditions worsen due to climate change. We modelled a typical, mid-sized, non-air-conditioned factory in Bangladesh and simulated how the indoor thermal environment is altered by four rooftop retrofits (1. extensive green roof, 2. rooftop shading, 3. white cool roof, 4. insulated white cool roof) on present-day and future ...[more]

PMID: 37601430

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Project description:BackgroundThe ready-made garment (RMG) sector is a significant contributor to the economic growth of Bangladesh, accounting for 10% of the country's GDP and more than 80% of its foreign exchange earnings. The workforce in this sector is predominantly made up of women, with 2.5 million women working in the industry. However, these women face numerous challenges in carrying out their culturally-expected household responsibilities, including childcare, due to severe resource constraints. As a result, the children of these working women have a higher incidence of malnutrition, particularly stunted growth. This study aims to identify the factors that contribute to stunting in children under the age of five whose mothers work in the RMG sector in Bangladesh.MethodsThe study collected data from 267 female RMG workers in the Gazipur district of Bangladesh using a simple random sampling technique. Chi-square tests were used to determine the associations between the factors influencing child stunting, and Multinomial Logit Models were used to estimate the prevalence of these factors.ResultsThe study found that the prevalence of moderate and severe stunting among the children of RMG workers living in the Gazipur RMG hub was 19% and 20%, respectively. The study identified several significant predictors of child stunting, including the mother's education level, nutritional knowledge, control over resources, receipt of antenatal care, household size, sanitation facilities, and childbirth weight. The study found that improving the mother's education level, increasing household size, and receiving antenatal care during pregnancy were important factors in reducing the likelihood of child stunting. For example, if a mother's education level increased from no education to primary or secondary level, the child would be 0.211 (0.071-0.627) and 0.384 (0.138-1.065) times more likely to have a normal weight and height, respectively, than to be moderately stunted.ConclusionThe study highlights the challenges faced by working women in the RMG sector, who often receive minimal wages and have limited access to antenatal care services. To address these challenges, the study recommends policies that support antenatal care for working-class mothers, provide daycare facilities for their children, and implement a comprehensive social safety net program that targets child nutrition. Improving the socioeconomic status of mothers is also critical to reducing child malnutrition in this population.

Project description:BackgroundSince the 2013 Rana Plaza incident in Bangladesh, the government of Bangladesh has been under pressure to improve health and safety conditions for workers in the ready-made garment industry. Its efforts have focused heavily on structural safety of the buildings but have largely ignored broader occupational health system issues. This qualitative study explores contextual factors and system challenges that create barriers for ensuring a healthy and safe workplace in the ready-made garment industry in Bangladesh.MethodsData were collected through key informant interviews (n = 14) with government officials from the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE), factory employers, factory doctors and representatives from the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA). A thematic analysis was conducted using Atlas-ti v 5.2.ResultsA thematic analysis suggests that the capacity of the DIFE to provide adequate occupational health services remains a problem. There is a shortage of both appropriately trained staff and equipment to monitor occupational health and safety in factories and to gather useful data for evidence-based decision-making. Another barrier to effective occupational health and safety of workers is the lack of cooperation by employers in recording data on workers' health and safety problems. Finally, government officials have limited resources and power to enforce compliance with regulations. Such deficiencies threaten the health and safety of this important, largely female, working population.ConclusionThis case example focused on the valuable ready-made garment industry sector of Bangladesh's economy. It identifies the critical need for occupational health system strengthening. Specifically system capacity needs to be improved by both increasing human resources for in-factory hazards and health monitoring, regulatory inspection, enforcement, and improved training of government officials around monitoring and reporting.

Project description:BackgroundBangladesh is one of the world's largest garment exporters. Physical working conditions of garment workers are precarious and known to largely affect their health. Research on garment workers' psychosocial working conditions, however, is scarce. We aimed to quantify psychosocial working conditions of garment workers and possible associations with workers' health.MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional survey among 1,118 ready-made garment (RMG) workers in labor colonies in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in February 2021. Descriptive analyses were performed to characterize social stressors (e.g., being bullied at work, poor leadership) and social resources at work (e.g., receiving support at work, vertical trust between management and employees, beneficial leadership) and workers' health (self-reported overall health and 10 specific health complaints). To examine links of social stressors and social resources with self-reported health outcomes we ran multivariable Poisson regression models yielding prevalence ratios (PR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI).ResultsWe found low to moderate levels of workplace bullying and high levels of poor leadership (i.e., supervisors not caring about workers' problems). We also found high levels of social support, vertical trust and beneficial leadership (i.e., supervisors taking decisions free of bias). Garment workers frequently suffered from health complaints, first and foremost headache (68.3%), cold (55.3%), and back pain (50.7%). Health outcomes were poorer among workers who reported to be bullied at work versus not bullied (e.g., PR 1.55 [95% CI 1.32-1.92] for poor self-reported health when bullied by colleagues) and health was better among those reporting to feel supported versus unsupported (e.g., PR 0.61 [0.52-0.71] for poor self-reported health when supported by supervisor). Perceived vertical trust between workers and management was weakly associated with better health. Leadership behavior did not display a consistent pattern.ConclusionsOur findings suggest that working conditions of RMG workers are rather good (e.g., characterized by low levels of bullying and high levels of support, vertical trust and beneficial leadership). The majority of workers reported good or very good health, although health complaints were frequently mentioned, first and foremost headache, cold, and back pain. Associations between psychosocial working conditions and health indicate worse working conditions being associated with poorer health.

Project description:ObjectiveWe estimated the effect of an employer-sponsored health insurance (ESHI) scheme on healthcare utilisation of medically trained providers and reduction of out-of-pocket (OOP) expenditure among ready-made garment (RMG) workers.DesignWe used a case-control study design with cross-sectional preintervention and postintervention surveys.SettingsThe study was conducted among workers of seven purposively selected RMG factories in Shafipur, Gazipur in Bangladesh.ParticipantsIn total, 1924 RMG workers (480 from the insured and 482 from the uninsured, in each period) were surveyed from insured and uninsured RMG factories, respectively, in the preintervention (October 2013) and postintervention (April 2015) period.InterventionsWe tested the effect of a pilot ESHI scheme which was implemented for 1 year.Outcome measuresThe outcome measures were utilisation of medically trained providers and reduction of OOP expenditure among RMG workers. We estimated difference-in-difference (DiD) and applied two-part regression model to measure the association between healthcare utilisation, OOP payments and ESHI scheme membership while controlling for the socioeconomic characteristics of workers.ResultsThe ESHI scheme increased healthcare utilisation of medically trained providers by 26.1% (DiD=26.1; p<0.01) among insured workers compared with uninsured workers. While accounting for covariates, the effect on utilisation significantly reduced to 18.4% (p<0.05). The DiD estimate showed that OOP expenditure among insured workers decreased by -3700 Bangladeshi taka and -1100 Bangladeshi taka compared with uninsured workers when using healthcare services from medically trained providers or all provider respectively, although not significant. The multiple two-part models also reported similar results.ConclusionThe ESHI scheme significantly increased utilisation of medically trained providers among RMG workers. However, it has no significant effect on OOP expenditure. It can be recommended that an educational intervention be provided to RMG workers to improve their healthcare-seeking behaviours and increase their utilisation of ESHI-designated healthcare providers while keeping OOP payments low.

Project description:Energy efficiency in habitation spaces is a pivotal topic for maintaining energy sufficiency, cutting climate impact, and facilitating economic savings; thus, there is a critical need for solutions aimed at tackling this problem. One viable approach involves complementing active cooling methods with powerless or passive cooling ones. Moreover, considerable scope remains for the development of passive radiative cooling solutions based on sustainable materials. Cellulose, characterized by its abundance, renewability, and biodegradability, emerges as a promising material for this purpose due to its notable radiative cooling potential exploiting the mid-infrared (MIR) atmospheric transmission window (8-13 μm). In this work, we propose the utilization of thermochromic (TC) materials in conjunction with cellulose nanofibrils (CNF) to confer temperature-dependent adaptivity to hybrid CNF films. We employ a concept where high reflection, coupled with MIR emission in the heated state, facilitates cooling, while high visible light absorption in the cold state allows heating, thus enabling adaptive thermal regulation. CNF films were doped with black-to-leuco TC particles, and a thin silver layer was optionally applied to the films. The films exhibited a rapid transition (within 1 s) in their optical properties at ∼22 °C, becoming transparent above the transition temperature. Visible range transmittance of all samples ranged from 60 to 90%, with pronounced absorption in the 8-13 μm range. The cooling potential of the films was measured at 1-4 °C without any Ag layer and ∼10 °C with a Ag layer. In outdoor field testing, a peak cooling value of 12 °C was achieved during bright sunshine, which is comparable to a commercial solar film. A simulation model was also built based on the experimental results. The concept presented in this study extends beyond applications as standalone films but has applicability also in glass coatings. Overall, this work opens the door for a novel application opportunity for green cellulose-based materials.

Dataset Information

Retrofitting passive cooling strategies to combat heat stress in the face of climate change: A case study of a ready-made garment factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Publications

Retrofitting passive cooling strategies to combat heat stress in the face of climate change: A case study of a ready-made garment factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

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