Protecting Informal Workers from Extreme Heat

Today’s escalating climate crisis disproportionately affects the world’s two billion informal workers.

As heat waves become increasingly frequent and intense, the absence of global occupational safety and health (OSH) protections against climate-related risks leaves these workers dangerously exposed.

Forced to labour in record-breaking temperatures, their health and even lives are in jeopardy.

In 2022, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) declared a “safe and healthy working environment” a fundamental right.

But although many countries have recognised extreme heat as an occupational hazard and implemented workplace safety protections, these measures rarely extend to the world’s most vulnerable workers: Those working informally in fields, landfills, street markets, and homes.

REFORM NEEDED

More than 2,4 billion workers worldwide are exposed to extreme heat annually.

With heat stress projected to increase rapidly over the next few decades, the international community must urgently reform labour protection frameworks to ensure workers’ health, safety, and livelihoods.

Without decisive action, millions will continue to suffer needlessly, trapped in a cycle of rising temperatures and hazardous working conditions.

This danger is particularly acute in low- and middle-income countries, where informal jobs account for roughly 90% of total employment.

While data on these workers’ health and safety are limited, a growing body of research suggests that extreme heat has a profoundly negative impact on their wellbeing and livelihoods.

For example, research by Women in Informal Employment: Globalising and Organising (Wiego) and the University of Sheffield found that 85% of waste pickers in Brazil experienced heat stress in 2022 and 2023, resulting in serious health risks and reduced productivity.

In Delhi, where temperatures breached 50° Celsius in May, the death of a 53-year-old labourer prompted the lieutenant governor to issue new guidelines adjusting labourers’ working hours and expanding access to drinkable water.

As a recent World Health Organisation editorial notes, the severe effects of extreme heat on informal workers include an increased risk of skin cancer.

CORE CHALLENGES

While discussions about protecting informal workers from heat stress often focus on outdoor labourers such as farmers and street vendors, extreme heat also affects those who work indoors in poorly ventilated spaces with limited access to potable water.

In Brazil, a waste picker told Wiego researchers that “the heat is sometimes unbearable. Being inside a shed, which has a zinc roof, affects everyone.” Finding sustainable cooling solutions is also important for domestic workers and caretakers, most of whom are women.

But despite recent advances on establishing global OSH standards, policymakers face significant challenges in addressing the issue.

Notably, 64% of informal workers are self-employed.

Without employers to finance essential safety measures, economically vulnerable workers must use their limited resources to protect themselves.

As Yuleina Carmona, Weigo’s Mexico City coordinator, observed, “Those who work on the street buy their own water, carry their umbrellas, wear hats, and mitigate the effects of the heat with their own resources.”

This weakness reflects a disconnect between local and national policymakers. In urban areas, informal workplaces are typically regulated by municipal authorities that rarely coordinate with national labour agencies responsible for workplace safety.

Moreover, informal workers are often stigmatised and seen as an undesirable source of crime and urban blight.

SIGNIFICANT GAPS

Even when national and local authorities manage to coordinate their efforts, significant gaps remain.

India’s heat action plans, for example, aim to tackle climate-related risks across multiple levels of government.

But these plans overlook the realities of informal work and the need for targeted interventions at the municipal level, particularly in densely populated urban areas.

While establishing global norms and standards is necessary, they must be translated into concrete measures that protect informal workers in the regions most affected by rising temperatures.

In particular, local and municipal authorities must adopt inclusive labour regulations and invest heavily in appropriate infrastructure, including expanded access to potable water, shade, indoor ventilation, and high-quality occupational health services.

To prevent the rise in morbidity and mortality rates associated with heat stress, these services must be affordable, adequately funded, and accompanied by structural shifts at national level to provide vital income support to workers grappling with climate-related displacement.

WORKER-DRIVEN SOLUTIONS

Informal worker organisations are already leading the way.

In Zimbabwe, informal traders have convinced Masvingo’s city council to approve public investment in critical urban infrastructure.

In India, the Self-Employed Women’s Association, one of the world’s largest worker organisations for women in informal employment, recently launched its own insurance programme that enables beneficiaries to avoid working during dangerous heat waves.

In addition to such worker-driven solutions, OSH protections must be integrated into climate policies.

As heat-related hazards continue to evolve and intensify, a staggering number of workers – including those in informal employment – face the risk of chronic illness, death, and disability.

Without coordinated action, the future of work will be increasingly dangerous and uncertain, leaving millions of workers to face the brunt of the climate crisis.

– Laura Alfers is director of the social protection programme at Women in Informal Employment: Globalising and Organising. Christy Braham, workers’ health coordinator at Women in Informal Employment: Globalising and Organising, is Senior Atlantic Fellow for Health Equity based at George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health.
– Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2024