Climate change is affecting workers' health, wellbeing and productivity year-round, new report finds
Heat stress is among the biggest causes of weather-related sick leave.
However, a new report shows that workers are facing a much wider range of climate-related risks, with flooding, drought, storms and poor air quality also affecting their health, wellbeing and ability to work.
The report, Workers and Climate Adaptation at Work - produced by Professor Vera Trappmann, Dr Susanne Lorenz, Dr Kexin Geng, Gina Moran, Dr Andrea Taylor and Professor Suraje Dessai, is the first UK study to examine how workers are adapting to a range of climate hazards beyond heat. Researchers surveyed 1,288 workers across seven climate-exposed sectors, including agriculture, construction, emergency services, health and social care, and transport and logistics.
The findings reveal that more than half (56%) of workers have been affected by at least one extreme weather event while at work, while most respondents reported negative impacts on both their wellbeing and productivity. Among those who had taken weather-related sick leave, 40% identified heat stress as a contributing factor, making it one of the leading causes of weather-related absence.
The study also found that workers in agriculture, emergency services, and transport and logistics face particularly high levels of exposure to climate-related risks. Outdoor and physically demanding occupations emerged as the strongest predictors of adverse impacts.
Despite growing evidence of the effects of extreme weather on workers, the researchers found that many workplaces remain unprepared. Only 26% of respondents said their employer had a climate adaptation or extreme weather plan in place, while just 30% had received training on how to manage weather-related risks at work.
Professor Vera Trappmann, Professor of Comparative Employment Relations at Leeds University Business School, comments:
It is important to understand how workers are affected by extreme weather at work and to put adaptation plans in place. Employers need to act responsibly, and governments need to introduce and enforce maximum safe working temperatures. I hope this study brings to the fore just how much climate change is already affecting our economy and society and shows that adaptation and mitigation must go hand in hand. Working conditions are worsening as a result of global warming, and governments, employers and trade unions need to address the declining health and wellbeing of the workforce.
Dr Susanne Lorenz, Lecturer in Climate Change Adaptation in the Sustainability Research Institute at the University of Leeds, adds:
It is crucial that employers actively engage and collaborate with workers to design effective measures that prepare for and respond to extreme weather events, and that increase resilience to the impacts of climate change in the long term.
The researchers argue that workers have been largely overlooked in discussions about climate adaptation, which have tended to focus on infrastructure, buildings and communities. Their findings suggest that climate adaptation should also be considered a workplace health, labour rights and economic productivity issue.
Read the full report: Workers and Climate Adaptation at Work.
