Summer 2025 has been anything but typical. The UK has already endured three official heatwaves, an exceptional spring, now recorded as the warmest and sunniest on record, and a June that became England’s hottest ever. These prolonged heat events have prompted drought declarations, strained infrastructure, and raised concerns about workplace safety and resilience.

Why heat matters at work

As climate change continues to drive more frequent and intense heatwaves, the risks to employee health, productivity, and business continuity are growing. Employers must now consider heat as a critical workplace hazard—and take proactive steps to adapt.

For employers, this means adapting not only to protect staff wellbeing but also to meet evolving standards of good employment. Some of the potential risks include:

Health Impacts: Heat stress can cause dehydration, heat exhaustion, and potentially fatal heat stroke. Workers in poorly ventilated spaces, those doing physical labour, or employees with underlying health conditions face particularly high risks, specifically in sectors including construction, manufacturing, industry and agriculture.
Productivity Decline: Research shows productivity drops by 2% for every degree above 24°C (75°F). In extreme heat, this can translate to significant operational impacts and reduced output.
Business Continuity: Heat can damage equipment, disrupt supply chains, and force temporary closures, creating cascading effects across operations.

5 actionable steps to build workplace climate resilience

To protect your workforce, employers should consider the following actions:

1. Sign up for weather alerts

Monitor weather conditions proactively using:

UK Met Office Heat-Health Alert System: Provides advance warning of dangerous temperatures
Local authority alerts: Many councils offer targeted warnings for your area
Weather apps with heat index data: Help track "feels like" temperatures that factor in humidity

Set up automated alerts to trigger your heat response protocols 24-48 hours before extreme weather hits.

2. Conduct a heat risk assessment and adapt your workplace

Conduct a heat risk assessment and explore adaptations to your workplace settings and ways of working. Evaluate your workplace systematically across the following areas:

Evaluate Temperature, Ventilation, and Building Design

Measure temperatures in different areas throughout the day
Identify heat hotspots (near windows, equipment, upper floors)
Assess ventilation effectiveness
Consider building orientation and insulation

Identify Heat-Sensitive Roles and At-Risk Employees

Map roles requiring physical exertion or outdoor work
Identify employees with health conditions that increase heat sensitivity like heart or lung conditions, diabetes, kidney disease, Parkinson's disease or some mental health conditions; and people who are on multiple medicines that may make them more likely to be badly affected by hot weather
Consider shift patterns and break locations
Evaluate uniform requirements and PPE heat burden

Review Machinery, IT Systems, and Logistics for Heat Risks

Assess heat-generating machinery and processes
Review IT infrastructure cooling needs
Consider transport and logistics impacts

Once you have completed the assessment, breakdown your implementation plan into:

Immediate low cost measures to reduce heat stress at work

Ensure unlimited access to cool drinking water
Relax dress codes and review uniform policies
Increase break frequency in cool areas
Provide cooling aids (fans, cooling towels, ice packs)

Physical Modifications for Cooler Workspaces

Install or upgrade air conditioning systems in extreme cases
Consider temporary cooling solutions (portable AC units, evaporative coolers)

Air conditioning is a medium to high cost solution and should only be used in extreme cases as the use of AC adds to the climate emergency and also (importantly for local issues) increases the local external temperatures, as AC units expel hot air from inside to the outside of the building.

Low cost and highly effective solutions include:

Adding window films, blinds, or external shading (e.g. wooden shutters)
Improve natural ventilation with strategic window opening
Create dedicated cool zones for breaks

Flexible Working Solutions during Heatwaves

Offer early start or late working patterns to avoid peak heat
Implement remote working options during extreme heat warnings
Adjust shift patterns for vulnerable workers
Consider temporary workspace relocations

Industry-specific Considerations

Manufacturing and warehousing: Focus on industrial cooling solutions, modified shift patterns, and enhanced hydration programs.

Retail and hospitality: Prioritise customer-facing area cooling, flexible uniforms, and staff rotation in hot areas.

Construction and outdoor work: Implement mandatory rest periods, provide cooling vests, and consider earlier / later shift working to avoid the hottest times of the day, and in extreme heat - weather-based work suspensions.

Offices: Upgrade HVAC systems, optimise workspace layouts, look at window films, blinds or external shading and maximize flexible working options.

3. Communicate with your colleagues

Ensure employees know about extreme heat events and the measures you’ve put in place to manage them.
Share guidance on how to avoid and recognise heat-related illness from reliable sources like the NHS website.
Encourage your teams to openly discuss comfort levels and concerns and ensure first aid training includes heat-related conditions.

4. Embed climate resilience in policy

Update your health and safety, HR, and facilities policies to reflect climate risks and adaptation strategies.
Make sure to include heat as a recognized workplace hazard in risk registers and management programmes.
Set trigger temperatures for additional protective measures.
Consider carrying out Adaptation reporting to increase understanding of your businesses risks.

5. Prepare for future heatwaves: long-term planning for UK workplaces

Climate projections suggest UK summers will become increasingly hot, with 40°C+ temperatures potentially becoming regular occurrences by the 2040s. Forward-thinking businesses are already investing in:

Operational planning: