Background: Heat exposure can pose a serious health hazard for workers undertaking physical work. Although heat safety guidelines exist in many industries, risks may still exist for vulnerable workers. The aim of this case study was to investigate council workers’ experiences and perceptions of heat impacts in the workplace.
Methods: A qualitative study design was adopted. Thirty-two male workers from a suburban council in Adelaide, South Australia, participated in 5 focus groups. Proceedings were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Thematic analysis was used to identify the main themes generated from the data.
Results: The council workers’ roles included roadworks, gardening, construction, labouring, excavating and welding. Although a heat policy was in place and the workers had a high adaptive capacity, hot weather nevertheless impacted on their health and well-being. Participants relayed personal experiences of adverse health effects and recognised the need to modify work practices and ‘work smart’ in the heat. However, this often resulted in lowered productivity which can be viewed unfavourably by supervisors. Workers felt more empowered and had a better relationship with management when able to take adequate rest breaks and work at their own pace in hot conditions. Overall, participants felt there were few options available to mitigate the effects of heat which was seen as an accepted occupational hazard.
Conclusions: With the number of hot days increasing with climate change, regular heat safety training needs to be enforced for at-risk workers, and productivity concerns by management should not compromise occupational health and safety.