Firms urged to prepare for impact of heatwaves on workers

Growing numbers of businesses are adapting products and services to cope with climate change, but relatively few are considering its effect on day-to-day operations and worker welfare.

That is the conclusion of a major new report released today by the Trade Union Congress (TUC), which warns that businesses could suffer heavy disruption if they fail to plan for the impact that higher temperatures and the increased incidence of extreme weather events have on staff.

The report, Changing Work in a Changing Climate, was undertaken by environmental consultancy AEA and recommends that all businesses should draw up clear adaptation policies with their employees.

It also proposes that the government develop new best practice guidance for workplace adaptation, as well as legislation to ensure staff are not expected to work when temperatures rise above a certain level.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said that very few firms had realised how climate change could "dramatically alter the lives of their employees and have a huge impact on the way they work".

He added that there was a strong business case for firms to draw up adaptation plans, arguing that "employers which take the challenge posed by climate change seriously and consider the welfare of their staff as they adapt will reap the benefits with a more motivated, highly skilled and well-equipped workforce".

The report surveyed over 130 organisations and found that just one had assessed how staff will be affected by climate change.

It warns that businesses are at risk of increased levels of disruption over future decades as flooding, heatwaves and droughts impact employee health and productivity and strain transport networks and emergency services.

The report says that some people working in factories or on transport networ ks already have to work in hot and poorly ventilated conditions and that the situation is likely to worsen as global temperatures rise.

It adds that employers will have to provide staff with improved work clothing, headwear and sun creams to cope with higher summer temperatures, and potentially change working hours and provide home working technology to limit the impact of disruption to transport networks.

The report comes just weeks after a scientific study from the Australian National University predicted that an increase in temperatures of just two degrees above pre-industrial levels would slash productivity in hot countries by 20 per cent.

It warned that the human body is incapable of working for significant amounts of time once air temperatures exceed 35oC.