Unions on Monday urged the European Commission to set maximum temperature limits for outdoor workers after three people died while on shift in Madrid during last week’s devastating heatwave.
While a handful of member states have laws limiting hours of work in excessive heat, thresholds vary and many nations do not have nationwide heat limits.
According to research by the opinion research institute Eurofound, 23 percent of all workers in the EU were exposed to high temperatures a quarter of the time. That number rises to 36 percent in agriculture and industry and 38 percent among construction workers.
Previous research has linked high temperatures to a range of chronic conditions and an increased risk of injury in the workplace.
“Workers are on the front lines of the climate crisis every day and need protection to face the ever-growing threat posed by extreme temperatures,” said Claes-Mikael Stahl, deputy general secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation.
The ETUC said most EU countries have no legislation on maximum temperatures at work, although Belgium, Hungary and Latvia all have some restrictions on activities.
In France, which currently has no working temperature limits, 12 workers died as a result of heat exposure in 2020 alone, the union said.
– ‘Cannot ignore the danger’ –
Spain, where three workers died in extreme heat last week, does have temperature limits, but only for certain occupations.
A 60-year-old street cleaner on a one-month contract died in Madrid on Saturday after contracting heatstroke while working on the open street the previous day.
At the time, temperatures in Madrid were approaching 40ºC.
A 56-year-old warehouse worker in a Madrid suburb also died on Saturday after suffering heat stroke while at work.
Security forces announced Thursday the death of a worker due to heat in Paracuellos de Jarama, on the outskirts of the capital.
Last week, the city reached an agreement with unions to limit manual street cleaning to below 39C.
With average global temperatures more than 1.1°C warmer than in the pre-industrial era, record-breaking hot spells are on the rise in Europe.
Global warming will continue to make deadly heatwaves more frequent and intense, with ever-higher levels of atmospheric carbon pollution, scientists say.
The UN’s climate science panel warned this year that another 10 million people would face extreme heat days below 2°C; The countries’ climate plans envisage a warming of the earth by 2.7 °C.
“Heat waves can be deadly for people working unprotected from the sun, as we saw in Spain this summer,” Stahl said.
“Workers are on the front lines of the climate crisis every day and need protection to face the ever-growing threat of extreme temperatures.”
He said the EU needed continent-wide legislation on maximum working temperatures because “weather doesn’t respect national borders”.
“Politicians cannot continue to ignore the danger to our most vulnerable workers from the comfort of their air-conditioned offices,” he said.
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