Builders, bakers and cheeseburger-makers: the UK workers struggling in extreme heat
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- Joshua Swinney, head chef at the Plimsoll pub in north London, swapped oven-based dishes for salads and raw fish as London temperatures exceeded 35C (95F), coping with a frozen tea towel around his neck and staff taking ice-bucket baths
- The Trades Union Congress is campaigning for legally binding thresholds: employers must act when temperatures exceed 24C, and work must stop above 30C (27C for strenuous jobs)
- Spain caps sedentary work at 27C and light physical work at 25C; Belgium sets tiered limits from 29C for light work down to 18C for very heavy work — thresholds the TUC wants replicated in the UK
- Construction worker Kenny Dinsdale, 65, warned of 'significant injury, dehydration, heat stroke, death' and suggested adopting 'Mediterranean-style hours' to avoid the day's heat peak
- The Bakers, Food and Allied Workers' Union, led by Sarah Woolley, has called for a maximum working temperature for a decade, with some employers turning off hot holds and providing isotonic drinks while others 'stay open and expect workers to continue as normal'
- Paramedics in Birmingham and London reported being forced to wear the same heavy uniform in -10C or 30C weather, with one saying 'I could have cried during my last shift' after carrying a patient down seven flights of stairs
- London bus drivers reported cab temperatures exceeding 40C with broken air conditioning, and some have gone on strike over working conditions
Why it matters: The TUC's proposed 30C stop-work threshold, if adopted, would make UK employers legally liable for heat-related harm — Spain and Belgium already operate this regime, and the UK's older workforce (Dinsdale is 65) faces compounding risk. Sarah Woolley explicitly warned that unaccredited workplaces without union recognition are the ones 'expected to continue as normal,' entrenching a two-tier safety gap between organised and non-unionised sectors.
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