Workforce Heat Resilience: An Actionable Framework to Close the Execution Gap
Extreme heat is increasingly recognised as a major risk to human health and economic stability. Over 2.4 billion workers are exposed to excessive heat, resulting in at least 22 million injuries and 18,000 deaths annually. Without significant action to address workforce heat risk, rising temperatures could lead to productivity losses of $2.4 trillion by 2030.
Extreme heat is increasingly recognised as a major risk to human health and economic stability. Over 2.4 billion workers are exposed to excessive heat, resulting in at least 22 million injuries and 18,000 deaths annually. Without significant action to address workforce heat risk, rising temperatures could lead to productivity losses of $2.4 trillion by 2030.
Framing extreme heat as an occupational health and safety issue no longer holds. Today, heat is a business risk as much as a human one, shaping operational continuity, productivity and long-term resilience. Yet, despite growing awareness of these issues, action is lagging. Across all major geographies and sectors, around 50% of companies have yet to make a systematic assessment of how extreme heat affects workforces in either direct operations or value chains, while just 28% have piloted or scaled up interventions.
This report, developed with Boston Consulting Group, provides a practical framework to help leaders assess where extreme heat risks are greatest across value chains, which interventions will deliver value and how to embed resilience into daily operations. It is complemented by a Workforce Heat Resilience Solutions Repository that allows businesses to filter interventions suited to their context. Given the impact on individual workers and the rising cost of inaction, protecting workforces from extreme heat is both a risk management and a strategic business imperative.