Rising heat stress

Our key takeaway: Rising thermometers are putting workers and vulnerable people at risk. Extreme heat has wide-ranging impacts on various human rights, including the rights to life, health, food, water, education, and a healthy environment, with vulnerable groups such as children, the elderly, those with chronic illnesses, and certain socio-economic groups facing heightened risks. Workers can face a number of risks due to their geographic location, work environment and type of work. For example, urban areas are prone to higher heat, and lower-income countries tend to lack the infrastructure and regulations to effectively manage extreme heat. Companies have an important role to play alongside regulators in ensuring that their own workers and workers in their supply chains are protected from extreme heat. They can set policies to establish maximum temperatures for outdoor work and to move work to cooler hours of the day where possible. They can also ensure that both supervisors and workers are trained on the risks of heat stress, how to safely manage high temperatures and how to provide first aid. Companies should also conduct human rights due diligence to identify top heat risks in their own operations and in the supply chain, and implement mitigation measures accordingly. 

Climate Rights International (CRI) published ‘I Can’t Cool’: Extreme Heat and Human Rights in the Context of Climate Change (May 2024):

• Links between extreme heat and human rights: Extreme heat has impacts on many human rights. CRI highlights in particular impacts on the rights to life, health, food, water, education, and a healthy environment. Certain groups are especially vulnerable to human rights impacts from heat stress. There are inherent risks to children, people with chronic illness, older people and people on certain medications. Other groups that may be at risk include women, incarcerated people, migrants, people living in poverty and people living in social isolation. The type of work people do may also increase vulnerability: people who work outdoors or in factories and buildings not properly designed for cooling face heightened risks. Location can also be a factor. For example, people living in urban areas can face higher heat in part “due to dense concentrations of pavement, buildings, and other urban features.” One report found that, between 1986 and 2016, urban heat exposure increased by almost 200% in 13,000 cities around the world. As the global population continues to urbanise, new populations will be at risk. Finally, “heat impacts will weigh the heaviest on the poorest populations with the fewest resources to adapt. Locally, low-income residents often have greater levels of heat exposure and can be more likely to experience heat-stress.” At the global level, heat exposure over the last ten years was more than 40% higher in the countries with income in the lowest quartile compared to countries with income in the highest quartile.

• Set standards for worker safety and train staff: In parallel to governments, regulators and other actors, companies have an important role to play in protecting workers from the worst effects of rising heat. CRI recommends that companies set policies like establishing a maximum temperature for outdoor work (in line with scientific evidence and local conditions) and adjusting work to happen in cooler hours of the day. Companies can also implement policies to ensure that workers are compensated for all time spent complying with heat safety standards. Training for workers and supervisors is key to ensuring the company’s policies are met. CRI recommends six areas that should be included in training: (1) recognition of the signs and symptoms of heat-related illnesses and administration of first aid; (2) causes of heat-related illnesses and how to minimize the risks of such illnesses; (3) the role that personal protective equipment (PPE) can play in adding to heat stress, and the need to reduce workload when working in personal protective equipment in hot conditions; (4) the importance of acclimatisation to heat; (5) the importance of immediately reporting to a supervisor any signs of heat-related illness in themselves or others; and (6) how to respond to symptoms of heat-related illness.

• Assess risks of heat and implement mitigation measures: Companies should also conduct human rights due diligence to assess risks of heat and vulnerable groups of workers in their own operations and in the supply chain, then implement protective measures based on the findings and require suppliers to do the same. Mitigations can include: (1) adapting facilities to the risk of extreme heat through ventilation, cool roofs and active cooling; (2) ensuring that workers have close access to free, clean drinking water and access to toilets, and the ability to freely take breaks when needed; (3) building in an acclimatisation period for workers to give their bodies time to adapt; (4) giving workers rest breaks at a “rest-to-work ratio commensurate with the risk from heat and humidity exposure. Work limitations should be based on actual weather conditions and the use of a widely-accepted an data-backed heat index, such as the Wet Bulb Global Temperature (WBGT) heat stress index” and incorporating other considerations like radiant heat, metabolic heat from high workplaces, and heat burden from clothing and PPE; (5) ensuring that outdoor workers have a shaded and easily accessible rest area, and encouraging workers to remove PPE during rest periods.