Lloyd’s Register Foundation published its report titled ‘The impact of climate change on safety at work’ (July 2025). The report highlights the main health and safety risks that workers face, as well as high-risk regions and sectors.
Human Level’s Take:
- Climate change and worker health are deeply connected - and as the planet warms, risks to workers are growing rapidly. Intensifying natural disasters like floods, hurricanes, and wildfires are threatening worker safety and changing the types of jobs people can do and where they can do them
- These impacts can be direct, such as heat stress, UV radiation, extreme weather events, air pollution, vector-borne diseases, and increased exposure to harmful chemicals. They can also be indirect, including disrupted supply chains, climate-related migration, and productivity loss. Poor mental health can also result from climate change, with workers experiencing stress, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. Workers often face a mix of these risks simultaneously, making their effects even more severe.
- Some regions - like subtropical North America, the Sahel, southern Africa, South Asia, and northern Australia - are areas of greatest concern for experiencing severe climate-related impacts at 4°C global warming relative to pre-industrial levels (1850-1900). And certain sectors are particularly exposed: agriculture, forestry and fishing, construction, manufacturing, mining and quarrying, disaster response, transportation and storage, and energy
- The transition to clean energy presents its own challenges. While it now drives 10% of global GDP growth, it brings new safety risks - especially with fuels like ammonia, hydrogen, and methanol. Workers in offshore wind, maritime transport, and small renewable businesses are especially vulnerable
- So, what can companies do? They can start by conducting human rights due diligence across their operations and value chains to identify, assess, and address the health and safety risks that climate change poses to workers. This includes using findings from relevant reports like this one to guide their assessments. Companies can also play a key role in sharing knowledge - about climate-related risks, impacts, and effective responses - across sectors and regions. Importantly, companies should also gather and share local knowledge, so that solutions are tailored to the specific conditions and needs of workers in different locations
Some key takeaways:
- The connection between climate change and worker safety: Lloyd’s Register Foundation’s World Risk Poll data from 2023 demonstrates that 30% of people globally experienced a disaster related to a natural hazard in the last 5 years. As climate change worsens, natural hazards - like flooding, hurricanes and earthquakes - will intensify, which will negatively impact workers’ safety and health, as well as the availability and type of work they do. The report highlights the main risks to worker safety which can be categorised into three categories: (1) direct risks (e.g., excessive heat; extreme weather events; UV radiation; air pollution; vector-borne diseases; and agrochemicals); (2) indirect risks (e.g., disrupted supply chains; climate-induced migration; loss of productivity and added pressures); and (3) other risks (e.g., mental health impacts). Workers may experience different risks depending on their job location, task, and even the time of year. They are also unlikely to experience risks in isolation and the combination of risks may pose additional impacts. In relation to indirect risks, climate change can change weather patterns, disrupting supply chains and affecting the job stability in different sectors and regions. It can also induce migration, displacing communities and exposing workers to unfamiliar jobs and new hazards. Loss of productivity resulting from damage to infrastructure and increased breaks during heatwaves can, in turn, increase pressure on workers, leading to longer hours, stress and burnout. Furthermore, climate change can affect mental health in complex ways, including extreme weather events causing stress, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. Disruptions to high-risk sectors like agriculture, forestry and fishing can lead to financial stress and migration, further making people isolated. Longer hours for emergency responders and healthcare workers can lead to burnout, and anxiety about climate change can lead to depression and feelings of helplessness and grief.
- Climate change impacts varies across regions: According the report, not all regions are at equal risk of experiencing severe impacts of climate change, and some are at risk of multiple impacts. The report highlights sub-tropical North America; tropical South America; the Sahel; southern Africa; south Asia; and northern Australia as areas of greatest concern for experiencing severe climate-related impacts at 4°C global warming relative to pre-industrial levels (1850-1900). The impacts that these areas experience include extreme heat stress, river flooding, fire weather, drought and food insecurity. More specifically, coastal areas are vulnerable to sea level rise and storms, affecting fishing and tourism workers, as well as infrastructure. Arid areas may experience droughts which affect air pollution or agricultural production. Urban areas may face risks connected with air pollution, heat waves and ‘heat island effects’, impacting both indoor and outdoor workers. Furthermore, low-and-middle income countries experienced 82% of all global deaths linked to weather and climate hazards, with this higher general risk extending to workers in those countries.
- Climate change affects workers in high-risk sectors: The report highlights sectors particularly at risk of the impacts of climate change: agriculture, forestry and fishing; construction; manufacturing; disaster response; energy; mining and quarrying; and transportation and storage. Ocean workers (i.e., those who work on or near the water) are spotlighted as a subset of workers who are represented across a number of the high risk sectors. Lloyd’s Register Foundation’s World Risk Poll data shows that 9% of ocean workers say workplace harm is the greatest risk to their safety, which is three times higher than reported by the rest of the global workforce. One third of ocean workers have experienced serious harm from severe weather events in the past two years. In relation to the energy sector, clean energy accounts for 10% of global GDP growth and presents new workplace safety challenges. For instance, new safety hazards are emerging with the transition to low-carbon fuels like ammonia, methanol and hydrogen. The workers most at risk are onshore and offshore wind farm workers, workers in transition to low-carbon fuels, especially maritime workers, and small renewable businesses. In addition, areas with growing renewable energy sectors may be at risk in the future, including Brazil, Europe and China. The report provides overarching recommendations to researchers, evidence brokers and practitioners on how to respond to the risks posed by workers by climate change. For corporate practitioners, this can include 1) providing insights such as when new or more serious risks or occupations of concern have been identified; 2) sharing knowledge across sectors and regions with other companies and researchers; and 3) collecting and sharing local knowledge to ensure solutions to address risks to workers address local conditions and needs.
