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As this week's heatwave hits, EFFAT EPSU EFBWW present their Model Directive, warning that heat is a daily occupational hazard, not a one-off summer event.
Brussels, 25 June 2026 | As temperatures rise across Europe, the European Federation of Food, Agriculture and Tourism Trade Unions (EFFAT), the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU), the European Federation of Building and Woodworkers (EFBWW), urge the European Commission to bring forward binding EU legislation on Heat at Work as part of the upcoming Quality Jobs Act. The call is based on a newly unveiled report and a Model Directive, written with the analytical support of the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI), with the aim of protecting workers from increasing heat exposure in the workplace.
Today's conference, "Protecting Workers Against Occupational Heat: Impacts and Solutions" brings together researchers, trade unionists, policymakers, and workers to examine the growing risks posed by heat exposure and extreme weather in the workplace, as well as the legal tools needed to address them.
Not just a heatwave, but a daily hazard
According to research carried out by the ETUI, heat exposure at work is no longer an occasional summer hazard: it is a persistent and escalating occupational risk across Europe.
Striking figures:
· 130 million workers in Europe are exposed to workplace heat stress every year, with an estimated 277,000 injuries and 230 deaths linked to it annually.
· Around 9 in 10 cases of worker heat exposure, and 8 in 10 heat-related injuries, occur on ordinary hot working days, not during officially declared heatwaves.
· The risk is not confined to outdoor sectors such as construction and farming; it is increasingly affecting warehouse employees, kitchen and hospitality staff, care workers, and others working indoors without proper ventilation.
· Alongside Southern Europe, heat-related dangers are increasing in Central and Northern Europe, where workplaces and labour laws were not originally designed to handle prolonged periods of high temperatures.
Yet, EU occupational safety and health law addresses heat only indirectly. There are no harmonised EU-wide exposure limits, and no enforceable minimum standards to adequately protect workers from heat-related risks.
Protection today depends on a patchy mix of national rules, and, too often, on employers' goodwill.