The UK has already faced five heatwaves in 2026, with a potential sixth hitting this September. The Physiological Society has released a new report recommending human-centred, physiologically informed policies to address extreme heat in the workplace, prevent heat-related health impacts and protect productivity.

The report, ‘Climate change-driven extreme heat, occupational health and productivity: A need for human-centred policy in the UK’, examines the impacts of climate change-driven extreme heat on workers, occupational health and productivity. It considers how extreme heat in the workplace affects people across different roles and working environments. The report has been developed with input from a panel of experts from the UK and abroad who specialise in thermal and occupational physiology, climate change, workforce health and safety, public policy and other related disciplines.

The report sets out a series of recommendations for government and policymakers to protect people and productivity from extreme heat in the workplace as the UK climate continues to warm:

  • Set targets for extreme heat that consider wider physiological risk factors.
  • Update regulations to ensure workers’ productivity and health are legally protected during periods of extreme heat.
  • Provide effective and physiologically informed guidance that enables all employers to protect workers from extreme heat risk while maintaining productivity.
  • Support further research to address gaps in the understanding of how heat affects productivity, health and safety.
  • Coordinate public health messaging across the four nations to promote wider understanding of the benefits of improving physiological resilience to heat risk for worker productivity and health.

The UK’s Climate Change Committee has stated that “increasingly extreme and frequent heatwaves are the greatest risk to health in the UK from climate change”. The effects of extreme heat in the workplace form part of a wider health challenge. These heat-related impacts in the health sector currently cost the UK £538 million annually and could increase by 245% by the 2050s.

As the health and safety of workers across the UK are increasingly affected by extreme heat risk, so are their physical work capacity and productivity, leading to wider consequences for the UK workforce and economy. The World Health Organization estimates that for every 1°C temperature rise above 20°C, productivity falls by 2%. In the UK, a 1°C increase in temperature could reduce the number of hours worked by the labour force by more than 100 million hours.

Dr Josh Foster of King’s College London, Chair of the Physiological Society’s Extreme Heat in the Workplace Steering Group, says:

“We can only develop effective interventions for all workers if we understand how heat and other factors affect an individual’s ability to remain safe, healthy and productive in hot environments. This report demonstrates how heat impacts the body and gives examples of solutions to mitigate those effects. It is my hope that the launch of this report acts as a springboard for continued engagement between physiology, policy, and industrial partnerships.”

In June 2026, 24 million working hours were lost on days above 30°C, costing the UK economy more than £1.15 billion in lost output. This was driven largely by the impact of heat on individual workers. During the same period, 87% of healthcare workers surveyed by the Doctors’ Association UK felt physically unwell because of extreme heat, while 67% reported that patient safety was affected. Health staff and firefighters have been pushed to the limit this summer while providing vital services in response to the health and environmental impacts of the heatwaves.

The risks from extreme heat in the workplace extend beyond key workers to the broader working population across all industries. A combination of factors places different sectors and workers at risk, including physically demanding roles, wearing PPE, working outdoors or in settings with greater exposure to heat or humidity, and working in industries that require continuous or fixed operating times.

Heat exposure can cause heat-related illness, including dizziness, nausea and headaches. It can also reduce cognitive function and impair decision-making, potentially leaving workers unable to perform their duties or increasing the risk of workplace accidents. Addressing the growing risk to worker wellbeing is not just a legal duty; it also ensures that a large part of the UK population is better protected from extreme heat in environments where people spend a third of their time.

Writing in the report’s foreword, Julia King, Baroness Brown of Cambridge and Chair of the Adaptation Committee of the Climate Change Committee, notes:

“Simple, cost-effective solutions can protect workers from extreme heat, but only if they are empowered with both the information and agency to make their workplaces safer, supported by legislation, regulations and employer behaviour.”

“Physiologists, working alongside policymakers and other disciplines, will be crucial in ensuring that workers’ productivity and health are protected as part of a well-adapted UK.”

Heat is already acting as a physiological constraint on workforce function, but current UK policy frameworks still treat it primarily as an infrequent risk to the most vulnerable in society rather than a system-wide occupational health risk.

The Parliamentary event and launch of the report aim to ensure that physiologists and physiological evidence are included in consultation and decision-making so that the policy response is effective and human-centred.

The UK is adapting more slowly than the climate is warming. This leaves the country and its workforce dangerously underprepared for the immediate and worsening impacts of climate change, with temperatures and heatwaves expected to become more frequent, longer and more intense. Protecting worker productivity and health from these impacts requires policy action that considers physiological and workplace demands, particularly for those living at the intersection of multiple vulnerabilities and risks.

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