The Heat Is On: Protecting Worker Health and Safety from the Impacts of Climate Change

Climate change is creating significant and growing risks to workers' safety, health and wellbeing. 

In The Heat Is On: Protecting Worker Health and Safety from the Impacts of Climate Change, Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) explores how rising temperatures, extreme weather events, poor air quality, increased exposure to solar ultraviolet radiation, and the spread of infectious and vector-borne diseases are affecting people at work across the world. The paper highlights the urgent need to recognise climate change as both an environmental and occupational safety and health challenge and to place worker protection at the centre of climate adaptation and resilience efforts. 

The publication examines the workers most at risk, including agricultural workers, construction workers, emergency responders, transport workers, commercial fishers and other outdoor workers, while recognising that indoor workers may also face growing risks from heat and poor air quality. It highlights the disproportionate impacts on vulnerable groups and the implications for worker health, productivity and sustainable development. 

Drawing on global evidence and practical examples, IOSH promotes a risk-based, evidence-led and preventative approach to managing climate-related occupational risks. The paper outlines practical measures that organisations can take using established occupational safety and health principles, including risk assessment, application of the hierarchy of control, worker engagement, training and effective health protection measures.

The white paper also sets out calls to action for governments, businesses and occupational safety and health professionals. These include strengthening climate-related occupational safety and health regulations, embedding worker protection within climate policies and strategies, investing in research and knowledge, supporting social dialogue and ensuring that businesses have effective measures in place to prevent harm and protect workers from climate-related risks.

By highlighting the relationship between climate change, worker safety, health and wellbeing, The Heat Is On contributes to efforts to support a just transition, strengthen resilience and ensure that workers remain protected as economies and societies adapt to a changing climate.