Rising heat undermines productivity

An associate professor at Greece's University of Thessaly says that companies worldwide have begun to respond to the effects of rising heat, as a result of climate change, on the productivity of their workers.

Andreas Flouris, who has researched workers' experiences of heat on the job and devised ways to help them, said companies had begun responding to the problem.

One reason is that technology has allowed scientists to monitor more closely what is happening to exposed workers and to calculate the financial consequences for employers, on top of growing concerns about the effects on their health.

"Now that they are also seeing the impact on their bottom line - the economic costs - they are twice as likely to engage in this," Flouris said.

Heat safety measures have improved, particularly in the construction industry, he said. On a recent project trip to...