Last Summer’s devastating Black Summer bushfires exposed the under-preparedness of Australian workplaces to the serious health and safety risks of heat stress for many workers across Australia.
Key findings:
- Heat stress poses serious health and safety risks, especially for outdoor workers, those in poor climate-controlled environments, workers moving between different climates, and emergency workers
- Current labour protections, including health and safety laws, are inadequate
- The conditions of employment fundamentally shape experience of heat stress — casual, labour hire, and gig workers have less capacity to take action
- Governments must urgently review impacts of climate change for workers and develop national regulatory frameworks for heat stress and bushfire smoke
“Workers need to be afforded greater protections to ensure their health and safety are paramount in extreme heat conditions,” said Dr. Elizabeth Humphrys, associate at the Australia Institute’s Centre for Future Work and co-author of the report.