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The Guardian - Back to homeThe Guardian

Harmed by heat

As global heating drives record-breaking temperatures across the world, we look at the impact on workers' rights and human health

Harmed by heat is supported by

Harmed by heat is supported by

24 October 2021

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  • Flames tower over a fire engine during Bear fire in Oroville, California.

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  • Sugar cane cutters work in the fields

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  • Changes in working practices mean many workers now have access to water, rest and shade, but heat stress remains a problem.

    ‘You shouldn’t work if your kidneys are failing – but people can’t afford not to’

20 October 2021

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    Extreme heat can kill or cause long-term health problems – but for many unendurable temperatures are the new normal

14 July 2021

  • Sugarcane workers use dust monitors on their chests in Chichigalpa, Nicaragua

    Deadly heat: how rising temperatures threaten workers from Nicaragua to Nepal

    As scorching temperatures spread, the search for ways to protect against heat stress is becoming ever more urgent

27 November 2020

  • Sugar cane cutters work in the fields in Chichigalpa, Nicaragua

    The mystery epidemic striking Nicaragua’s sugar cane workers – a photo essay

    In Chichigalpa, kidney failure accounts for half of all male deaths over the last decade. Could industry changes be the key to saving lives?

3 December 2019

  • Manmaya Magar

    Mosquitoes bring ‘mystery illness’ to the mountain villages of Nepal

    Global heating linked to outbreaks of dengue fever high in the Kathmandu Valley

1 December 2019

  • Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus).

    Global heating driving spread of mosquito-borne dengue fever

    Record numbers across Asia and Americas infected as rising temperatures extend disease to places once seen as safe

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  • Nischal Tamang from Nepal

    Qatar's workers are at risk of heat stress for half the day during summer, finds UN

    A third of workers in study experienced dangerously high body temperatures, despite working ban during hottest periods

7 October 2019

  • Workers on a construction site near Doha

    Sudden deaths of hundreds of migrant workers in Qatar not investigated

    Exclusive: in majority of cases, authorities do not perform postmortems, despite recommendations from regime’s lawyers

3 October 2019

  • An aerial view shows the progress of construction at the Expo 2020 site in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

    Workers at Dubai's Expo 2020 likely to have suffered dangerous heat stress

    Exclusive: ‘World’s greatest show’ could be linked to cardiorespiratory failures in labourers building infrastructure

2 October 2019

  • Sugar workers cut cane in the Barahono area of the Dominican Republic

    From Qatar to Vietnam, global heating is making the workplace deadly for millions

    Tord Kjellstrom
    Regular exposure to dangerously high temperatures poses a grave and growing threat to workers around the world
  • Rupchandra Rumba, a Nepali labourer who died in Qatar in June 2019. He was 24.

    Dead at 24: did heat kill Doha World Cup worker Rupchandra Rumba?

    Nepali Rupchandra Rumba’s sudden death was attributed to heart failure – like hundreds of other young migrant workers who die in Qatar each year
  • Qatar 2022 World Cup preparations<br>A migrant worker drinking water at the construction site for the Al Rayyan stadium exactly four years before the start of the 2022 Qatar FIFA World Cup in Al Rayyan near Doha on November 7th 2018 in Qatar (Photo by Tom Jenkins)

    Revealed: hundreds of migrant workers dying of heat stress in Qatar each year

    As construction boom hits its peak ahead of Fifa World Cup, Guardian analysis shows workers toiling in potentially fatal temperatures
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