European trade unions are advocating for new laws to address heat stress in the workplace, seeking their inclusion in a forthcoming Quality Jobs Act. The European Commission has pledged to bring forward the legislation this year. The unions are calling for enforceable workplace thermal limits based on wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT) and mandatory job site heat risk assessments.

These proposed protections also include rights to heat breaks, outdoor shade, water, cooling, and adjusted working hours. Heat stress is linked to an estimated 230 workplace deaths per year. The World Health Organization connected 1,300 excess European deaths to the June 2026 heatwave. Several labour ministers in rightwing EU states oppose the new heat stress rules, favouring weaker recommendations.

Enrico Somaglia, general secretary of the European Federation of Food, Agriculture and Tourism Trade Unions (Effat), said: "Climate change is no longer a distant environmental challenge, it is a daily occupational health and safety risk, as well as a threat to job stability." He added: "The current European legal framework is clearly not sufficient to defend against it." Effat is one of three union groups, representing 15 million workers, backing the proposed heat safety law, alongside the European Federation of Public Service Unions and the European Federation of Building and Woodworkers.

A draft directive text proposes maximum workplace WBGTs on a scale between 30C and 32.5C for work varying from very high to low intensity. The draft plan proposes that work be suspended beyond these temperatures and that employers violating the rules would face sanctions described as effective, proportionate and dissuasive.

In the UK, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) is calling on ministers to introduce a maximum working temperature. The UK government's advisers on the Climate Change Committee recently backed this demand. The TUC wants rules to ensure employers take steps to reduce workplace temperatures if they exceed 24C. It also wants the right for workers to stop work if temperatures reach 30C, and for workers doing strenuous jobs to stop work if temperatures reach 27C.

Paul Nowak, the TUC general secretary, said: "Indoor workplaces should be kept at comfortable temperatures, with relaxed dress codes and flexible working to make use of the coolest hours of the day." He added: "And employers must make sure outdoor workers are protected with regular breaks, lots of fluids, plenty of sunscreen and the right protective clothing." A Heat Strike movement, formed after the UK's hottest day in 2022, organized a national action that 1,500 people participated in during the June 2026 heatwave. Activists set up cool stations to provide water and health advice in town centers.

Maria Ohisalo, a Finnish Green MEP and rapporteur for a parliamentary report on extreme temperatures at work, supports the union push. She said: "Right now there is no European-wide regulation on protection against workplace heat (or cold) exposure, just a patchwork of mere recommendations." She added: "But workers everywhere need the protection that only legally binding and harmonised rules can offer."

Why It Matters

Europe is warming twice as fast as the global average. Up to 130 million workers are exposed to workplace heat stress, with 277,000 workers injured by it each year. The push for legally binding protections seeks to establish a standardized framework across EU member states where currently only non-binding recommendations exist.