Worker health in danger from extreme weather

Eurofound figures showed that nearly a quarter of workers in the EU were exposed to high temperatures during at least a quarter of their working time. File photo: Cristina Quicler/AFP via Getty Images

Rising temperatures and extreme conditions across Europe will lead to serious risks to worker health in the future, an analysis by an EU agency has warned.

As the world had its hottest ever June and July, with temperatures exceeding 40C in some European countries in recent weeks, the Dublin-based European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, known as Eurofound, examined data from recent decades across the EU regarding working conditions.

It found that in 2015, before spikes in temperatures led to former global and European records falling as extreme weather events intensify, nearly a quarter of workers in the EU were exposed to high temperatures during at least a quarter of their working time.

Mediterranean countries and those in Europe's southeast are already the most affected, the data from eight years ago show.

Workers in Romania (41%), Spain (36%) and Greece (34%) were most affected, Eurofound said, with agriculture workers and construction workers at 51% and 45% respectively the most exposed to high temperatures at least a quarter of the time.

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Because of gender imbalance in such professions, exposure to high temperatures is an issue that affects more men than women, it added. Eurofound research manager, Jorge Cabrita, said: "This data showed that, already in 2015, there was a large proportion of the workforce exposed to high temperatures. 

"Given that prolonged periods of exposure to extreme heat can have severe adverse effects on workers’ health, the increases in average temperatures in Europe since then have only made the situation more challenging. 

"Policymakers, employers and, ultimately, individual workers must put in place relevant and practical measures to reduce heat stress and safeguard human health."

Climate records

The first three weeks of July have been the warmest three-week period on record and the month is on track to be the hottest July and the hottest month on record, data from the EU's Climate Change Service (C3S) and the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said last week.

July 6 saw the daily average global mean surface air temperature surpass the record set in August 2016, making it the hottest day on record, with July 5 and July 7 shortly behind, C3S and the WMO said. The previous hottest July and month on record was July 2019, they added.

Meanwhile, Ireland saw its wettest ever July on record, on top of the wettest ever March and October in the past year. Met Éireann has warned that climate change has driven Ireland to become wetter and warmer over the past 30 years, with the pattern likely to continue into the future.

The patterns will impact the likes of tradespeople and construction workers, with so-called "rained off" days becoming more prevalent. There is no statutory entitlement in general for an employee to be paid if they cannot attend work because of extreme weather in Ireland.