Australian Unions are calling for new national safety rules that require employers to stop work or modify duties when temperatures reach dangerous levels, warning that increasingly frequent heatwaves driven by climate change now pose a major workplace health and safety threat.

A national day of action on Extreme Heat Awareness Day on February 4, was led by Sweltering Cities and Australian Red Cross, alongside the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF), the Australian Medical Association and the Australian Local Government Association, with events held around the country over the next few days.

Countries like Japan already enforce mandatory occupational health and safety heat requirements, but there are currently no national heat standards in Australia. State and territory workplace health and safety laws do not clearly set out employer obligations to safely manage the risks of working in heat.

Unions are urging Safe Work Australia to introduce a heat regulation that requires employers to provide controls such as rest breaks, work scheduling and work stoppages at defined temperature thresholds, and to ensure workers’ compensation coverage for heat-related illnesses.

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