This chapter explores the challenges businesses face in ensuring worker safety amid unprecedented heat waves. It highlights personal experiences of market stall holders and discusses practical strategies for coping with extreme temperatures, such as hydration and workplace adjustments. Additionally, it addresses the broader economic implications of climate change and the need for proactive measures to protect workers and enhance resilience in communities.
As temperatures rise, productivity falls.
Extreme global temperatures are draining tens of billions of dollars in economic productivity every year from some of the world’s biggest cities. It’s not just outdoor jobs that are impacted, but office work too.
In this episode, we ask work leaders, economists and employees what can be done to work around hot weather. From changing working hours to introducing heatwave insurance.
(Picture: Labourer drinking from a water bottle, in the sunshine. Credit: Getty Images)
Presented and produced by Megan Lawton