Beat the Heat

Beat the Heat

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Initiative against extreme heat and related environmental health risks in workplaces and major events

 

Beat the Heat is a initiative under WHO’s Sport for Health programme, developed in collaboration with FIFA. It aims to protect the health and safety of workers, spectators, and communities by addressing rising risks from extreme heat, air pollution, and UV exposure at workplaces, sporting and other mass gatherings events.

Drawing on WHO’s expertise in climate, environment, and emergency preparedness—and in partnership with WMO and ILO—the initiative promotes evidence-based action and capacity building. It engages governments, businesses, workers’ groups, sports bodies, mass gathering organizers, and communities in high-risk areas.

Aligned with World Health Assembly resolution WHA77.12, the initiative supports health system adaptation to climate change and contributes to the implementation of WHO’s global plan of action on climate change and health, adopted by the Seventy-eighth World Health Assembly.

 

Overarching objectives

  1. To use international guidelines and tools to protect workers and the public from extreme heat, air pollution, and harmful sun exposure. 
  2. To help workplaces and event organizers learn how to handle heat and air pollution better. 
  3. To make health systems, including services for workers and the environment, stronger to protect people in high-risk areas. 
  4. To create ways to talk to and work with communities to keep workers and event attendees safe from heat, air pollution, and harmful sun exposure. 
  5. To inform people about heat-related health risks and how to prevent them, and to push for strong rules and monitoring to keep everyone safe in the long run. 

 

Beat the Heat Pillars

Pillar 1: Workplaces

This initiative will leverage the implementation of standards to protect working people from heat stress, UV rays, and air pollution by creating and using protocols and tools to keep workers and the public safe from extreme heat and its risks. The effort will help workplaces better manage heat exposure and strengthen health systems to protect workers against environmental dangers in high-risk areas. By developing strategies for risk communication and engaging with communities, the initiative seeks to protect workers creating infrastructure and providing services for mass gatherings and sports events from exposure to extreme heat, air pollution and solar radiation and providing them with adequate water and sanitation and occupational health services. Additionally, it aims to raise awareness and advocate for strong policies, regulations, and monitoring systems for prevention of environmental health risks in workplaces through effective communication and partnerships.


Pillar 2: Mass gatherings and sports events

The Beat the Heat Initiative aims to protect attendees of mass gatherings and sports events from extreme heat and related environmental risks. It will develop tools and protocols to shield people from heat, air pollution, and UV rays; help event organizers manage heat risks and improve health systems; raise awareness and advocate for strong policies and regulations; focus on effective communication to ensure safety. By developing and implementation of global protocols and tools for risk management these measures, the initiative ensures a safer environment for everyone involved in these events, fostering global cooperation to address climate challenges.

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