Its guidance notes on prevention of heat stroke at work were updated and reissued this April in a third edition, with more than 200 heat stress at work warnings being issued since they were first published in 2023.
However, a recent survey of more than 500 outdoor workers – street cleaners, security guards, gardeners and delivery riders – conducted by the Service Industry General Union found that more than half of the respondents were unaware of or unclear about the guidelines.
“Around 11 percent of workers are completely unaware that these guidelines even exist, and when combined with those who are unclear about them, the figure exceeds half,” the union’s vice-president Horace Chan said.
“What do we mean by ‘unclear’? The guidelines categorise workload into ‘moderate’, ‘light’ and ‘heavy’, amongst other classifications.
“Some workers simply do not know which category their work falls into, and as their employer has not told them, how are they supposed to know how much rest time they are entitled to?”
The survey also found 39 percent had worked continuously or intermittently outdoors for more than four hours while 37 percent said their employers had not arranged for them to take additional rest periods.
The union called on authorities to mandate rest periods by law and establish official standards for working hours during hot weather.
It also urged the government to make heat stroke a prescribed occupational disease to guarantee automatic legal compensation.
