In July 2024, the International Labour Organization released a report, titled “Heat at work: Implications for safety and health”, exploring the harmful effects of heat stress on workers across the globe.

The report highlights how the climate crises is causing higher daily temperatures and more severe and frequent heatwaves. This is harming the health and safety of workers globally, including leading to heat exhaustion, heatstroke, death, and long term, debilitating chronic diseases. The report also highlights the harmful impact of heat stress on mental health, including reduced cognitive performance leading to injuries at work.

The report emphasises certain workers are particularly at risk, including migrant workers, informal workers, pregnant women, indoor workers without ventilation, and outdoor workers in physically demanding jobs. The report builds on previous research by ILO showing over 2 billion workers are exposed to extreme temperatures.

Key findings include:

• Workers were exposed to excessive heat in Africa, the Arab States, and Asia and the Pacific at a rate higher than the global average.
• Europe and Central Asia had the greatest increase in excessive heat exposure.
• Africa and the Americas had the greatest proportion of occupational injuries due to heat exposure. The Americas also had the most rapidly increasing proportion of injuries due to heat exposure since 2000.
• Injuries and exposures occur outside of heatwaves, including nine out of ten worker exposures.
• Over 26 million people are living with chronic kidney disease attributable to heat stress at work.
• Preventing occupational injuries due to heat exposure through Occupational health and safety measures could save USD 361 billion globally.

The repot also analyses national legislation in 21 countries across the globe. It found most laws are too general, although some countries are developing new, targeted regulations to tackle the issue of excessive heat exposure.

Among other key points, the report discusses the importance of social dialogue to design actions to tackle heat exposure. The report emphasises employers are responsible for addressing heat stress in the workplace, and that workers have the right to participate in the development and implementation of preventative strategies. The report gives several examples of collective bargaining agreements that have been adopted to address excessive heat, including an agreement negotiated between US union Teamsters and the shipping company UPS in 2023, and an international framework agreement between the union Building and Wood Workers' International and Belgian construction company BESIX to protect workers in the Middle East from heat.