High heat at work

Higher global temperatures induced by climate change have been identified as a major threat to safe and decent working conditions, with workers increasingly compromised during the hottest months of the year. This is ‘particularly significant for the Australian workforce because of the prolonged warm-to-hot summers, and the increasing frequency of heatwaves’ (Reference Williams, Varghese and HansenWilliams et al., 2020: 68). Projections place most of Australia’s land mass in the moderate to high risk category for occupational heat stress, and some parts of the north-west of the country at extreme risk (Reference Hyatt, Lemke and KjellstromHyatt et al., 2010). Recent studies have underscored that heat stress is impacting a significant and diverse group of the working population. Interestingly, a survey of Australian labour force participants found that outdoor workers, and those in physically demanding jobs, were no more likely to be ‘often’ or ‘sometimes’ stressed than those working in ‘non-vulnerable’ roles (Reference Zander, Mathew and GarnettZander et al., 2018).

‘Heat stress’ refers to heat received in excess of the level that a person can tolerate, where ‘the body’s internal regulation mechanisms are no longer capable of maintaining body temperature at a level required for normal functioning’ (International Labour Organization (ILO), 2019: 17). Several factors can moderate the risks of heat stress faced by an individual worker. These include humidity; exertion and the nature of work being carried out; the working environment; ability to self-pace, slow or stop work; and access to training, heat management procedures and other protective measures.

Health and safety consequences of workplace heat are also differentiated among workers. Older workers and those with certain health conditions can struggle in hotter weather. Problems can be greater for those on less secure employment contracts, temporary workers, piece workers, on-demand workers and migrant workers, who may have greater difficulty in taking measures to address problems (Reference Underhill and RimmerUnderhill and Rimmer, 2015). While climate heat disrupts all work and presents new challenges to health and safety generally, it does this while exacerbating precariousness and extending individual risk (Reference Newman and HumphrysNewman and Humphrys, 2020).

While heat waves and extreme temperatures are particularly challenging, heat also impacts workers at moderate temperatures – especially those doing physical labour or experiencing heat associated with higher levels of humidity (ILO, 2019). A 2019 study of work-related injury and illness in Adelaide found that ‘moderate temperature ranges had the greatest burden [in terms of claims] yet the greatest risk was observed at extreme temperatures’ (Reference Varghese, Barnett and HansenVarghese et al., 2019a). Symptoms may include rashes, dehydration, nausea, fatigue, irritability, stress, reduced concentration and slower reaction times; and more serious consequences may include miscarriage, heatstroke, heart failure, organ failure and death (Reference Ebi, Capon and BerryEbi et al., 2021). High heat conditions also have cognitive impacts, reducing mental capacity (Reference Rowlinson, YunyanJia and LiRowlinson et al., 2014). They increase the likelihood of more accidents and injuries at work (Reference Varghese, Barnett and HansenVarghese et al., 2019b). A study of South Australian workers’ compensation claims found that there was a significantly increased risk of heat illness above 35.5°C, and that during heatwave periods the risk of occupational heat illness was about four to seven times higher than that of non-heatwave periods (Reference Xiang, Hansen and PisanielloXiang et al., 2015; see also Reference Park, Pankratz and BehrerPark et al., 2021).

Heatwaves have a strong cumulative effect and can impact working conditions indirectly, putting pressure on an individual’s health outside of work hours. High heat can impact sleep quality, the effects of which compound over several days, making it harder to work safely. Similarly, working in extreme heat can make driving to and from work more dangerous (Reference Basagaña, Escalera-Antezana and DadvandBasagaña et al., 2015). In the hottest and most humid parts of the country, some workers are unlikely to fully recover from workplace heat exposure on a daily basis, as ‘the impact of the work shift extends into their personal lives, affecting them physically and mentally’ (Reference Carter, Field and OppermannCarter et al., 2020: 7).

A recent study compared how workers manage their exposure to high heat in workplaces to the suggestions made by health and safety representatives and other relevant professionals, such as occupational hygienists (Reference Williams, Varghese and HansenWilliams et al., 2020). The study identified common priority issues across these groups for better managing high heat. These included supporting workers to take basic protective measures, personal protective equipment (PPE) policies, work planning for hot weather, and management education and support (Reference Williams, Varghese and HansenWilliams et al., 2020: 75–77). Yet, a review of policies and guidelines in Australia found that high-level frameworks across state, territory and Commonwealth jurisdictions do not cover the hazards of hot weather explicitly – rather, management of the problem is covered more generally by duty of care and workplace health and safety (WHS) provisions (Reference McInnes, MacFarlane and SimMcInnes et al., 2017: 338). The authors identified significant problems in available educational materials – including the range and accessibility for workers whose first language is not English, as well as the consistency of information across jurisdictions (Reference McInnes, MacFarlane and SimMcInnes et al., 2017: 338). Furthermore, there is ‘no requirement to provide a written hot weather plan or to ensure it is understood or available to workers [and only] two regulators recommend employers have a heat illness emergency response plan’, and only one state policy ‘advises employers to monitor weather forecasts’ (Reference McInnes, MacFarlane and SimMcInnes et al., 2017: 338). More research is needed to identify how hot weather is being managed in workplaces, as well as the difficulties in implementing adequate risk management strategies (Reference McInnes, MacFarlane and SimMcInnes et al., 2017: 338).

Experience of high heat at work

Despite the wide range of jobs and locations respondents were based in, and the high levels of access to cooling in some industries, most workers (90.7%) were affected by heat on hot days. A majority said heat affected them ‘very much’ or ‘quite a bit’ on hot days (58%), with less than 10% of workers reporting they were never or rarely affected (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Effect of heat experienced by workers on hot days.

Source: Survey by authors, 2021 (n = 798).

Several factors can contribute to how hot an individual worker feels, including sun exposure, the level of ventilation, the availability of cooling controls such as fans and air-conditioning, and physical exertion. Most workers surveyed either only worked indoors (28%) or worked outdoors for less than one-third of the time (44%). In total, 15% of workers spent 70% or more of their time outdoors. Just over one-third of workers said their workplace was well or very well ventilated, and almost half said their workplace had reasonable (‘average’) ventilation. About 17.3% of those surveyed said their workplaces were poorly or very poorly ventilated. Some workers had to lift heavy loads as part of their job, which can increase the risk of heat stress, and one-third of workers surveyed advised that they regularly lift loads of 10 kg or more.

Unsurprisingly, most workers felt the heat most when they were outside, exposed to the weather directly. However, for others, they felt hottest at work in specific areas of the workplace, for example: in an ‘unventilated/un-air-conditioned work shed’ (air reporting officer, Northern Territory); ‘in the sheds cutting up material’ (teacher’s aide, Queensland); ‘inside the plant’ (plant operator, Western Australia) and ‘in the mill room – small, with little cooling, and directly in front of sunlight’ (development chemist, Victoria). Others noted that the hottest part of their workplace was under or near skylights.

Many workers based indoors noted that they felt hottest near heat-generating equipment and machines, including computers. Often it was a combination of factors – proximity to hot equipment/machines, inadequate climate controls or cooling mechanisms and/or a lack of ventilation – which contributed to high ambient heat in their workplace. Most indoor workers surveyed had access to cooling controls, including fixed air-conditioning (75.4%), fixed fans (45.6%), portable fans (11.4%) and portable air conditioning/evaporative coolers (4.5%). However, some noted that existing cooling controls did not work properly, were broken, were ineffective in high temperatures or were available only for customers. One interviewee, working as a technician in a factory in Victoria, noted ‘fans make it worse…because they take all the heat up from the machine and blow it to the site… there’s nothing exhausting the hot air out’.

Cooling controls were often only available for some of the working day or week, either because controls were only available in part of the worksite or because the ‘workplace’ encompassed many different environments. For example, one aged care support worker in Queensland said:

This worker was not alone in noting that some clients in aged and homecare chose not to use air-conditioning, usually because of the cost of running it.

In the 12-month period prior to the survey, 20.2% of workers were unable to work at some point due to high heat. This included having work cancelled, work stoppages and taking sick leave. When exposed to heat at work, many workers regularly experience fatigue (77.6%), headaches (59.5%) and nausea or dizziness (36.8%), all common symptoms of heat stress. Some workers also described how they sometimes ‘stopped sweating’ or lost their appetites. Workers also reported slower reaction times, feeling irritable or angry and finding it harder to concentrate. Working in high heat also had dissociative impacts for some workers, who described feeling ‘out of it’, ‘like a zombie’, on ‘remote control’ or being ‘zonked the hell out’. One worker compared it to having ‘a really severe hangover’, and another said high heat problems led to ‘mental health deterioration over time’. Many respondents noted ageing can make workers more susceptible to heat stress. Several workers also raised menopause: ‘some women…really can’t cope in the heat because of menopausal symptoms’ (homecare worker, Western Australia); ‘I am menopausal, so I have hot flushes too. The heat at the front counter affects me a lot’ (administration worker, Queensland) and ‘…with the hot flashes, you nearly pass out with that, with our hot uniform on top that doesn’t breathe’ (homecare worker, New South Wales).

In a separate survey (n = 487) conducted by the union about uniforms and heat, workers detailed significant issues related to the materials used, uniform design and breathability. When asked to rate the appropriateness of their uniform on a hot day: 64.4% rated it ‘terrible’, 18.7% rated it ‘poor’ and only 16.9% rated it either ‘neutral, good or great’. Many workers drew links between their experience of high heat and overall workloads, the timing of their work over the day, the lack of opportunity to take breaks and the short travel times allowed between clients limiting their recovery. Around 50% of these homecare workers were unaware that they had the right to cease work on paid time if there was a serious and imminent risk to their safety. Of course, for workers caring for the vulnerable, ceasing work can be a very difficult choice with serious consequences for clients, meaning it is at times impractical, despite the risks of continuing to work.

Many UWU members are employed in jobs where they are directly responsible for the care and safety of others, and project participants shared their concerns about how high heat affects their patients, students and clients. In the survey, some teachers noted that high heat can lead to increased behavioural incidents, anger, stress and vomiting among students. Homecare and healthcare workers witnessed patients suffering heat stress and exhaustion. As one homecare worker based in Western Australia put it, we ‘worry about our clients in the heat. … it is actually emotionally stressful as well’.

Impacts on productivity were a problem across many industries. In the workplace, high heat conditions often produce a vicious cycle; as workers are forced to mitigate the adverse impacts of the heat, it becomes increasingly difficult for them to ‘keep up’, particularly if there is no commensurate reduction in their workload pressures. One worker summarised this predicament:

Due to the cumulative effects of heat, many workers suffer towards the end of their shifts, travelling to and from work, at home after they get home from work or in the latter half of a hot or high-intensity week. Some workers described in interviews how the heat ‘catches up’ with them:

Workers also described serious workplace incidents. One worker recalled a particularly difficult week, working outdoors on roads around 48°C temperature. The bitumen was sticking to his boots, and he said it ‘took days to recover’. Nearly 20% of survey respondents said they were aware of serious incidents relating to heat, involving either them or their co-workers. These included workers and those in their care suffering seizures, heat exhaustion, stroke, extreme stress and other forms of illness. A few workers reported fatalities of co-workers and patients.

Response to high heat at work

Preventing and responding to high heat was a challenge for many workers. Their ability to effectively manage the impact of heat was related to:

• their access to basic cooling measures (e.g. water, ice and PPE)

• their relative control over their working environment (e.g. their ability to access cooling controls, ‘pace’ themselves, slow down and/or rearrange or reschedule tasks)

• the existence of heat management policies or procedures at work

• the level of confidence workers felt about raising issues.

Some workers said they can move to relatively cooler areas of their workplace, such as a lunchroom, lower level of a factory or an air-conditioned space (e.g. their cars if they had time to lower the internal temperature). For others, making these simple adjustments is not possible because climate controls are unavailable or inaccessible. All interviewees took individual measures to cool themselves in high heat conditions, such as drinking more water, taking breaks and making use of PPE (e.g. hats, sunscreen and ice vests). Although some employers provided water, special drinks (e.g. electrolytes) and PPE to workers, most did not. One interviewee commented: ‘there may be some water if they know one of those stinking hot days are coming. But that just doesn’t do much really’ (manufacturing worker in Victoria).

Other common measures for managing in the heat – taking breaks, slowing down or pacing and rearranging or rescheduling work tasks – were again only available to some workers. One worker on a production line in a factory in Victoria, said: ‘I try to pace myself in a way where (the bosses) can understand that I’m working within my limits, and that I’m not overheating myself’. This worker felt able to pace himself somewhat but noted his employer had never ‘explicitly’ told him or his co-workers to slow down. He said: ‘they’re just more trying to say “don’t overwork yourself”, but at the same time “don’t slack off”’. Workers whose jobs are externally ‘paced’ – for example by a tight roster in the case of many homecare workers, or by the speed of machines in the case of manufacturing workers – found it more difficult or impossible to slow down or take additional breaks. Some said they were unable to leave ‘their machines’, or to take short breaks without stopping production and creating more work for themselves:

A notable but small proportion of workers (2.4%) had taken formal industrial or workplace action regarding a high heat issue. Of this group, 58.8% reported the action was unsuccessful, 35.3% reported that it was successful and one dispute was ongoing at the time of the survey. The low percentage of workers who took this form of action was, in some ways, a surprising finding – both because of the severity of the heat stress and illness experiences described by participants in the study and because in recent years, UWU members have been more likely to take industrial action on WHS matters than on many other unions. Conversely, the limitations on industrial action in Australia – largely restricting it to periods of enterprise bargaining every 3–4 years and with severe penalties for unauthorised campaigning – can discourage workers from taking action outside these periods, even in cases where there are serious WHS risks and they are legally allowed to do so. One example of this is the relatively low level of action taken over the bushfire smoke emergency in 2019–2020 outside of the strong industries of maritime services and construction, despite severe impacts from the smoke across many industries (e.g. those that were part of this survey).

Cost considerations of employers were often a factor in heat management. Many workers said they often had to pay for and bring their own PPE supplies and water. Some workers talked about how unlikely it was that companies would install effective climate controls, like air conditioning, as the costs would be too high. The inability to take heat recovery breaks was often related to how ‘lean’ a workforce was, and whether there were enough staff available to relieve people: it ‘used to be much [easier to take breaks], but they’ve cut labour back now’ (manufacturing worker, Victoria), and ‘[people often say] they’re fatigued, and that’s because [management] did chop the numbers and they’re running around’ (manufacturing worker, NSW). Another manufacturing worker in Victoria, agreed:

Almost half of the workers surveyed were unaware whether there was a policy or procedure for managing high heat in their workplace. Over half of the respondents said they had never been issued with a warning, advice or information about high heat or heat stress (53.1%), around one-third said they had received this sort of advice (35.8%), and 11.1% were unsure. Only a quarter of workers were aware of a provision to stop work at a particular temperature in their workplace.

One manufacturing worker in Victoria said that although a new heat policy had been signed into their enterprise agreement the year before, it was unclear how it could be practically enforced as there was no clear system for taking additional breaks, no temperature gauge in the workplace and nobody knew where to physically locate the heat policy. Another manufacturing worker in Victoria outlined similar problems:

One utility worker in South Australia, employed in his workplace for nearly 12 years, ‘tried to get a heat policy in every year’ as well as for there to be more workers to a crew. He reported that these efforts ‘always [got] fobbed away by management’.

A few manufacturing and utilities workplaces had better practices, holding meetings on very hot days. Managers issued verbal warnings to ‘take it easy’; ‘we get some conversations around heat stress, what we should be doing, shade, sunscreen … before summer especially, we’ll have some toolbox meetings or conversations around that’ (utilities worker, South Australia). However, what made a difference for many of these workers was whether the informal warnings were accompanied by procedures or policies for hot weather – such as an allowance to take additional breaks – and whether those policies were easily enforceable by workers.

Some workers also reported that the use of new forms of PPE to manage COVID-19 had exacerbated the impact of heat, causing an increase in rashes, dehydration, stress, headaches and fatigue. They also outlined other pandemic-related changes that had negatively impacted the management of high heat, such as changes to rosters, limited or no access to lunch rooms and other air-conditioned spaces because of social distancing, increased workloads, tasks need to be done more often and in the hottest parts of the days (such as cleaning outdoor play equipment), cessation of the use of air conditioning in some schools, decreased time for breaks, difficulty in consuming water while in full PPE and busy, and removal of access to cooling showers.

Climate change: Growing impacts at work

A key focus of the research was to examine whether workers believe climate change is having an impact on people’s working conditions, and if so how. This question was asked at the end of the survey. Of those providing a clear response to this question (n = 459), 56.2% of workers said climate change was having an impact on their working conditions, 33.8% said it was not and 10% were unsure. Younger workers (under 30) were more likely to say there was an impact, with almost 80% saying this was the case; for the 31–70 age bracket, this fell to 50%–60%. There was no significant difference between the views of women and men on this question, and there were too few non-binary respondents (n = 2) from which to draw comparisons.

There was variation across states and territories. Workers in Queensland and Western Australia were less likely to cite climate change as compared with Victoria, the Northern Territory and South Australia. There was variation across industries as well. Workers in chemical manufacturing, professional and technical services, educational services and agriculture were more likely to say climate change is having an impact on working conditions, and workers in food services and repair and maintenance were less likely to draw this conclusion. However, given the small sample size for some industries, this needs to be explored in more detail in future research.

Approximately, one-third of respondents felt climate change was not having an impact on working conditions. These workers explained that they did not believe climate change was occurring or that, even if it is getting hotter, it is not being induced by human activity (‘it’s always been hot’; ‘things go in cycles’). Two respondents pointed the finger at employers as the primary cause of workplace heat, stating they ‘seem to be going backwards in the way they treat the common working man’ or stated that the problem existed because management was being ‘tight’ in supplying the right PPE and suitable equipment.

About one-tenth of workers responding were undecided. Respondents in this group often stated that they had not thought about it previously, they needed to do more research, or that they ‘really [didn’t] know enough to have a valid opinion’. Others agreed it was getting hotter for them at work, but they were unsure whether this was related to climate change or because they were getting older.

Workers who felt climate change is having an impact on working conditions often stated it was altering weather patterns and causing or contributing to hotter weather and more humid conditions, and/or resulting in heat waves and a variety of weather events such as natural disasters. ‘Weather patterns are changing, and global warming is affecting how and what we do’, said a ranger from Western Australia Parks and Wildlife. Workers described the hotter weather as ‘harsher’, ‘more extreme’, ‘aggressive’ and ‘biting’. A number talked about more frequent ‘extreme weather’ being caused by climate change. More generally, there was a sentiment that ‘workplaces are not keeping up with changes to the environment’ (education assistant, Queensland). A teacher’s aide based in Queensland reported that changed weather patterns and increasingly hot summers had resulted in a school running out of tank water, conditions where it is far too hot to let students play outside, and more frequent cyclones and intense weather events where staff are required to work through heavy rain and wind events.

Climate change is a live discussion in some workplaces. A manufacturing worker from Victoria stated:

This worker was not the only respondent who drew a link between climate change and bushfires, in particular the 2019–2020 ‘black summer’ events. This fire period killed 33 people directly and a further 455 people indirectly due to the smoke and ash pollution, which enveloped four-fifths of Australia’s population (Reference WahlquistWahlquist, 2020). Several respondents said they were ‘lucky’ or relieved that the most recent 2020/2021 summer had been slightly cooler, but they knew hotter summers would return. One young manufacturing process worker in NSW was particularly despairing about the future considering climate change and stated in an interview: ‘I’ve only been on this earth for like 23 years and…I would say that, yeah, climate change is sort of ruining this earth and we’re left to die’.

Others focused on the more recent COVID crisis, drawing lessons about potential climate change impacts on workers. A homecare worker from Western Australia argued climate change requires immediate action and planning to protect workers and clients:

A firefighter in the Northern Territory drew attention to the cost impacts of higher temperatures on the industry, calling for planning and increases to ‘manning to allow for reduced exposure to heat at incidents’. Emergency services personnel have told us that their PPE is often state of the art, but there is a concern over state funding for appropriate labour resourcing so workers can rest adequately to cool down while others take over. Similarly, another member working in healthcare said that the impacts of climate change might be mitigated by changing shift times to cooler parts of the day, but that ‘no one wants to pay the penalty rates’.