This article summarizes a landmark move by international safety experts: a new ILO guidance designed to shield workers from the escalating dangers of extreme weather.
Negotiated over five days in Geneva and adopted on April 24, the guidance targets all sectors. It emphasizes risk assessment, preventive measures, and meaningful worker participation to build climate-resilience in workplaces worldwide.
New ILO Guidance to Strengthen Workplace Safety Amid Extreme Weather
The International Labour Organization’s OSH experts agreed on a comprehensive framework aimed at addressing weather-related hazards across national and workplace levels. The document calls for gender-responsive, thoroughly documented risk assessments and for organizations to tailor preventive and control measures to evolving weather patterns.
It underscores the necessity of robust emergency preparedness, response, and recovery plans, with a focus on practical implementation rather than mere policy. Joaquim Pintado Nunes, ILO OSHE Branch Chief, highlighted the urgency of turning guidance into real protections for workers.
What the Guidance Covers
- Risk assessments that are gender-responsive and documented at both workplace and national levels to identify vulnerabilities related to extreme weather.
- Tailored preventive and control measures designed to address current and shifting weather patterns, including heat, cold, storms, and related hazards.
- Emergency preparedness, response and recovery plans that are regularly reviewed and updated, ensuring readiness during extreme events.
- Worker participation and ongoing consultation with workers and their representatives in all occupational safety and health matters tied to weather risks.
The guidance advocates a participatory approach, recognizing that frontline workers often face the greatest exposure and have crucial insights into practical controls. It also calls for sustained monitoring and accountability at both enterprise and national levels to ensure effective action against climate-related risks.
Key Provisions for Employers, Governments and Workers
Across sectors, the framework seeks to align policy, practice and protection. It emphasizes that employers, governments and workers share responsibility for creating safer workplaces, with gender considerations embedded in every stage—from risk assessment to emergency planning.
The guidance also reinforces the right of workers to be informed and involved. OSH is presented as a collaborative, ongoing process.
Concrete Steps to Implement
- Instituting mandatory, documentation-driven risk assessments that capture local climate realities and gender-specific vulnerabilities.
- Developing and deploying preventive controls such as scheduling adjustments, cooling strategies, heat mitigation, and protective equipment tailored to conditions.
- Establishing and rehearsing emergency preparedness and recovery plans that are accessible, tested, and continuously enhanced.
- Creating formal channels for worker consultation and meaningful participation in OSH decisions related to extreme weather.
Why This Guidance Matters Now
Evidence cited in the guidance is compelling. A 2024 ILO report estimates that more than 2.4 billion workers are exposed to excessive heat, leading to countless injuries, nearly 19,000 deaths, and about 2.09 million disability-adjusted life years lost.
The framework also aligns with the World Meteorological Organization’s data showing 11,778 weather-related disasters between 1970 and 2021, causing over two million deaths and global losses of around $4.3 trillion. These figures underscore the urgency of translating policy into practice to reduce harm and protect livelihoods as the climate heats up and weather becomes more volatile.
What to Expect Next
The ILO will present the guidance’s conclusions to its Governing Body for approval in November 2026.
Until then, member states, employers and workers can use the framework to start integrating gender-responsive risk assessments and strengthen emergency plans.
They can also ensure robust worker participation in safety decisions.
This development reflects a broader shift toward climate-smart governance in the world of work.
As extreme weather becomes a norm rather than an exception, the cooperation of governments, employers and workers will determine how safely and equitably societies can continue to function under changing environmental conditions.
Here is the source article for this story: New global guidance to shield workers from extreme weather