feature Health and safety/Climate change THE HEAT IS ON… Farmworkers feel the heat of a changing climate


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In 2024 International Workers’ Memorial Day turned its attention to Climate change and workers health and Unite members who toil outside in the UK’s farms and forests were encouraged to understand the dangers of working in an increasingly dangerous environment.


Last year was the hottest on record, with workplace deaths and damage to health as a result of global warming rising everywhere. And it is only expected to increase.


The changing climate can result in increasing levels of heat stress, UV


14 uniteLANDWORKER Summer 2024


radiation, air pollution, industrial accidents, extreme weather events, vector-borne diseases, and chemical exposure - all issues that will impact on the thousands of workers who work in the country’s fields or forests.


On the 19 July 2022 the UK recorded its hottest ever day, with the mercury reaching 40.3°C in the rural Lincolnshire village of Coningsby. During the heatwave that summer over 3,000 extra deaths were recorded.


Outside the UK global heating is killing farm workers. Many reports


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