This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: The UK has experienced several heat waves this summer—heat stress among workers is one of the biggest causes of weather-related sick leave. Very high temperatures can cause symptoms like heat rash and cramps, or even exhaustion and heatstroke.
But our recent survey of workers in seven climate-exposed sectors shows that extreme weather caused by climate change also affects their health, well-being and productivity in colder months. The Climate Change Committee, which advises the UK government, recently assessed the risks and what is needed to mitigate our changing weather. But its report and the debate about climate adaptation have largely overlooked the plight of workers.
In the UK, as in many other parts of the world, workers are already suffering from—and adapting informally to—increasingly disruptive weather, often without adequate support. In June, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the UK's workplace regulator, issued a heat health alert urging employers to make sure their workers are protected from heat—albeit without providing guidance on what "too hot" means. There is currently no law setting a maximum permitted workplace temperature in the UK.
Nor has there been a comprehensive analysis of the short- and long-term impacts of the 2022 heat waves on UK workers' health. Those effects result from the UK's climate having altered in several ways. The decade from 2015–2024 was 10% wetter and 1.24°C warmer than the 1961–1990 period.
The past three years have all been among the five warmest on record, with the 40°C (104°F) threshold exceeded in July 2022 for the first time since the mid-19th century. The economic impact of this climate change will be huge. While there is not yet a full estimate of the costs for the UK, estimates from climate-induced weather hazards more broadly—of flood damage, failed infrastructure and falling productivity—predict a decline in the value of GDP (gross domestic product) of between 3% and 7%.
There are also indirect losses due to decreased productivity, absenteeism and performance inefficiency. Our survey of 1,288 workers across the seven climate-exposed sectors reveals that heat stress is now one of the leading causes of weather-related sick leave—40% of workers who had taken sick leave due to weather factors said heat was a factor. But heat is only part of the problem.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
