Evaluation of the Effect of Climate Change on Occupational Accidents in Terms of Psychosocial Risks using VAR Method

Relationship between Climate Change & Work Accidents

Abstract

Climate change is a global problem that is increasing in importance day by day. There are many negative situations caused by this problem in different fields. Occupational health and safety, which is perhaps one of the most important of these areas, is directly and indirectly affected by climate change, and the reflections of the resulting negative picture on employees are considered as occupational accidents. The aim of presented paper is to evaluate the effect of climate change on occupational accidents in terms of psychosocial risks by VAR method. There are many direct and indirect reasons that lead an incident to an accident, as a work accident is caused by the work done, the conduct of the work, unsafe conditions and unsafe behaviors. It is known that physical, chemical, biological, ergonomic and psychosocial risks, which are accepted as risk factors, cause occupational accidents. These risk factors are mainly affected by the changes that occur around them, and they contain additional risks due to these changes. There are studies in the literature that sudden weather events or natural disasters that occur with climate change affect employees and cause occupational accidents. Since physical, chemical, biological or ergonomic risks are more noticeable by nature, it is relatively easier to determine their effects on occupational accidents. However, it is thought that it is more difficult to recognize psychosocial risks such as stress, aggression, difficulty in adaptation, difficulty in concentration, poor performance, difficulty in social adaptation, difficulty in communicating, to get down to their root causes and to examine the effects of these risks on occupational accidents compared to other risk groups. The motivation of the paper is to raise awareness about the effects of climate change-related problems on occupational accidents in terms of psychosocial risks.