Health and safety heat hazards

Occupational safety and health (OSH) professionals will be on the front line when it comes to adapting the workplace to this new reality. How can they help?

At the coal face

Climate change is affecting workers everywhere. According to a recent report by the International Labour Organization (ILO), some 2.41 billion workers (about 70% of the working population) are exposed to excessive heat every year. This contributes to almost 23 million workplace injuries and nearly 19,000 deaths. 

Heat is perhaps the most obvious climate change-related hazard, says Dr Halshka Graczyk, a technical specialist at the ILO. “It leads to immediate impacts, such as heatstroke, which can lead to death very quickly.” Heat also poses indirect risks from injuries. A poor night’s sleep tossing and turning in uncomfortable temperatures, or sweaty palms when using machinery, could lead to accidents, she explains.

And the risks go beyond heat. Climate change poses a “cocktail of hazards”, says Graczyk. Ultraviolet radiation exposes people to an increased risk of skin cancer. Climate change has also led to a rise in vector-borne diseases. For instance, Lyme disease, spread by ticks whose range may be increasing because of climate change, poses a threat to field workers.

Extreme weather also affects workers who are responding to these events. Graczyk points to examples where tropical cyclones have destroyed buildings. “There are buildings constructed out of asbestos, so afterwards there is asbestos rubble. But clean-up workers aren’t aware that there are asbestos-containing materials. So, you have the potential for exposure to toxins as a secondary impact.”

Similarly, firefighters in many places are now exposed to longer wildfire seasons and breathing in more particulate matter than ever before.

Climate change will affect specific kinds of workers in different ways. Dr Edward Ansah, an independent researcher and senior lecturer at Ghana’s University of Cape Coast, has studied its impacts in developing countries. “For pregnant women who work in the fields in agriculture, heat can be a cause of miscarriages,” he reports.

Climate change may trigger mental health issues too. Ansah explains: “If you are a farmer and you plant your crop, but the crops are now not working [due to drought or flooding], this can lead to anxiety, depression and even suicide.”

New approach needed?

“These are not new hazards and risks,” says Ruth Wilkinson, head of policy and public affairs at the UK’s Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH). Most of the dangers that climate change poses to worker health and safety are in fact already recognised and covered by relevant legislation (ie, rest breaks or adequate drinking water). That said, there is an ongoing discussion in UK OSH circles about the merits of a maximum temperature for work.

“In the UK, we have the Health and Safety at Work etc Act, and that places general duties on employers to ensure the health, safety and welfare of their employees. Then there’s other legislation that sits under that, which puts an absolute duty to do risk assessments and to document those risk assessments.”

“Some 2.41 billion workers are exposed to excessive heat every year”

Wilkinson argues that “what organisations must do, through that risk assessment process, is look at where harm could be caused”. Essentially, employers need to constantly monitor how climate change may affect their employees and make adjustments as new risks arise. 

For Wilkinson, what’s needed from policy is greater coherence. All too often, environmental policy is discussed separately from discussions around labour rights or safety at work. Yet these issues are interconnected. A more holistic approach would help.

At the international level, the ILO doesn’t have specific global recommendations for climate change-related events (although it does have standards for hazards such as heat). But, a stakeholder meeting is planned for 2025, which Graczyk says may set “guidelines on what should be done and what is recommended”.

Ansah argues that in developing nations “we need strong advocacy … we need to get government to wake up to this call”. In Ghana, for instance, Ansah says there is no comprehensive OSH policy at a national level. Getting those foundations in place will be essential.

Low-hanging fruit

While there may not yet be global regulations about climate change and OSH, there is a growing body of evidence about ways to protect workers.

Many of these are “actually very low- hanging fruit”, says Graczyk. Providing workers with adequate rest and water, and giving people breaks in shaded areas can all reduce risks. Providing suitable PPE is also effective. Having light-coloured, breathable clothing or hats is a simple measure that works in many situations.

Giving migrant workers enough time to acclimatise when they arrive in new places is also valuable. “Research has shown that the majority of heat-related injuries or illnesses happen on the first few days of work,” among this group, Graczyk says. 

While these solutions may be simple in theory, implementation isn’t always so straightforward, particularly in developing countries with large informal economies. There’s also the poverty factor. Graczyk explains: “There are many workers in the world that aren’t able to stop working just because it’s hot or just because there might be a natural disaster coming. They need to keep working to provide for their families.”

Ansah adds that there’s often a gap between words and actions. “Formulating a policy is one thing, implementing the policy is another.”

Glimmers of hope

While the challenges of rising temperatures are considerable, there are reasons to be hopeful, according to Cate Walter, a director at Rhino Safety, a UK-based OHS consultancy.

Since the Covid-19 pandemic more employers are aware of “the need to
be flexible and to take individual circumstances into account”. That means, for instance, letting vulnerable people work from home during extreme heat. She says many companies with lots of outdoor workers are “voluntarily putting policies in place to protect their workers from heat and sun”.

One of Walter’s clients is a construction firm, which has a ‘t-shirt on’ policy, educating building staff about the risks of UV radiation. Similarly, in hot weather, anyone on a site who doesn’t need to wear a hard hat is asked to wear a sun hat.

There are many more examples of adaptations around the world. In countries like Qatar, for instance, Graczyk says there are now summertime work-hour rules to protect people from the highest temperatures. Between 10am and 3.30pm there’s no work in outdoor occupations. In trials in Latin America, sugar cane cutters have been provided with more hydration and shade, with the aim of tackling high levels of kidney diseases (linked to dehydration) among agricultural workers.

In his research, Ansah found examples of businesses that provide cooling rooms, where warehouse or outdoor workers can have scheduled rest breaks in an air-conditioned environment.

Better late than never

While the impacts of climate change on workers are likely to be severe, IOSH’s Wilkinson believes that “the recognition [of these issues] is growing”. She points out that, for the first time ever, there was a health day at last year’s COP 28. “I think we need to build on that momentum.”

Len Williams is a freelance journalist from the UK, specialising in the built environment, urban design and climate change adaptation