Can’t stand the heat: how can UK workplaces adapt to the climate crisis?

Workers in central London drink water as the temperature approaches 40C in July 2022. Photograph: Tom PIlston

The world has just experienced its hottest week on record, this summer. As southern Europe endured temperatures of up to 46C (115F) in July, reports of heat-related injuries among workers, and even deaths, began to appear.

How prepared is the UK – which experts believe will also experience increasing temperatures in the coming decades – for heat issues in the workplace? And what can be done to improve and prepare the UK’s workplaces to better withstand heat?