Andy Burnham has barely acknowledged the climate crisis. If only Britain’s workers had that luxury | John Harris
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- Arriva North London bus drivers — more than 1,500, represented by Unite — launched a planned run of 26 stoppages through October after their vehicles, equipped with old-fashioned air cooling rather than air conditioning, pushed cab temperatures past 40C during this summer's heatwaves.
- Unite has documented drivers suffering "heat exhaustion, heatstroke and dehydration" since May, noting that workers skip drinking water because too many routes lack toilets; Arriva, which reported £133m pre-tax profit, says it is investing in cab air-con upgrades, though drivers report management prioritizes avoiding TfL mileage penalties over their safety.
- The Royal College of Nursing reports NHS nurses collapsing amid extreme heat, while University of Reading research found 44% of construction workers surveyed had suffered a heat-related illness and 57% had received no compulsory heat-safety training.
- Montse Aguilar, a 51-year-old Barcelona street cleaner, died after collapsing during a 35C workday last year — her death still not classified as a workplace accident — even as Barcelona distributed around 1,400 body-temperature alert bracelets to outdoor workers, which the CGT union says remain inadequately managed.
- The UK government has no plans to introduce a mandatory maximum workplace temperature, per the PM's spokesperson, though the Health and Safety Executive will launch a public consultation on heat-at-work safety rules; the Trump administration is separately moving to rewrite Biden-era rules mandating worker breaks and water access, with official US figures showing more than 550 workers die annually from heat exposure.
- Andy Burnham did not mention the climate crisis until last Friday despite planning a late summer focused on the cost of living, while UK brown fields turn scorched yellow and homes have been engulfed by wildfires.
Why it matters: Unite's 26-stoppage strike and the PM's office's flat refusal to set a maximum workplace temperature leave Britain's Arriva drivers — alongside nurses, construction workers, and street cleaners with documented heat illness — without any statutory upper limit, with the Health and Safety Executive's upcoming consultation the only formal review now scheduled.
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