Rising temperatures are no longer just an environmental issue. They are a workplace health and safety issue that directly affects productivity, worker wellbeing, and compliance risk.
Recent guidance from the Ethical Trading Initiative highlights workplace heat as an emerging priority across global supply chains. Excessive heat exposure is linked to dehydration, fatigue, reduced concentration, higher accident rates, and in severe cases serious medical incidents. For brands and factories, this is no longer something that can be managed informally.
Good practice goes beyond simply recording factory temperature.
ETI emphasises the importance of understanding how heat affects workers in reality. That means identifying high-risk areas, reviewing seasonal trends, adjusting work patterns where necessary, and actively monitoring worker wellbeing. In some pilot projects, more advanced methods such as body temperature monitoring have been explored to better understand risk levels. While this is not a compliance requirement, it demonstrates the direction of travel in best practice thinking.
For suppliers, practical steps may include structured heat risk assessments, improved ventilation, accessible drinking water, scheduled rest breaks during extreme heat, worker consultation, and clear reporting channels for heat-related concerns.
For brands, the key question is whether heat risk is being treated as part of a formal occupational health and safety system, rather than as an ad hoc seasonal issue.
As temperatures continue to rise globally, proactive heat management is becoming part of responsible supply chain governance. Organisations that address it early will be better positioned to protect workers, maintain productivity, and meet stakeholder expectations.
If you would like to review your current approach to workplace heat risk in line with emerging best practices, we would be happy to discuss how this can be assessed within your existing audit or compliance framework.