Managing extreme heat at work

In the context of the heatwave that has been hitting Europe in recent days, the Greek Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs has issued a circular on ‘Preventing employees’ thermal stress’ (No. 56163/15.06.2022). It refers specifically to organisational and technical measures that the employer should take to avoid heat stress (e.g. providing information and instructions to employees, the organisation of the appropriate infrastructure for dealing with emergencies, etc.) and provides a guide for the calculation of thermal stress. This guide provides, both in summary form and in detail, information on the methods for analysing workers’ thermal stress in specific working environments and the method for calculating workers’ thermal stress using the WBGT (wet bulb globe themometer) index method.