New research from the World Health Organization shows more than 2 billion workers are now exposed to dangerous heat levels - 70% of the global wokrforce.

"The risks our members face include heatstroke, dehydration, and kidney failure," said PSI's General Secretary Daniel Bertossa in a BBC interview about the reserach.

The WHO’s research also finds a 2-3% loss in worker productivity for every degree rise above 20 celsius.

"When heat impacts essential workers' ability to perform their duties, it becomes not just an economic problem but a public safety issue," Bertossa said.

Essential Protections Needed

As temperatures continue to break records globally, specific workplace protections have become non-negotiable. PSI members are calling for:

• Mandatory rest periods and shift scheduling to avoid peak heat hours

• Employer-provided free water, protective clothing, and shade

• Increased staffing levels to enable proper rotation of workers

• Stricter accountability for employers through enhanced labor laws and inspections

• Maximum workplace temperature thresholds beyond which work must stop

The WHO's report explicitly supports the development of occupational heat action plans created in collaboration with workers and their unions—an approach unions have long advocated for.

When workers organize collectively, they can achieve significant improvements in workplace safety. In Pakistan, PSI recently supported the formation of the country's first Community Health Worker Union Federation. These women health workers, who provide essential care to over a hundred million people through door-to-door services regardless of weather conditions, with one worker reporting "On a single day, five of my colleagues collapsed from heat stroke."

Their union is making tackling heat risks a key issue, demanding better public investment in health services, safer staffing levels to ensure less exposure and travel distances, and improved workplace safety measures to protect both workers and patients from rising temperatures and climate disasters.

Global Advocacy

In the past year, our member unions secured significant victories at the ILO, including a new global labor Convention recognizing climate impacts on workplace biological hazards and provisions for setting maximum safe working temperatures in the recycling industry.

Despite these advances, many governments have been slow to respond to the escalating crisis. As climate change intensifies wildfires, floods, and other disasters, investment in vital public services and emergency personnel is decreasing in most countries—a dangerous contradiction.