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Theodora Yu

At a bustling fruit store in Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay, a crowd of workers sporting damp towels around their necks or fan vests buy up chilled drinks to stay hydrated as temperatures hit 32 degrees Celsius (89.6 Fahrenheit) on a busy weekday morning.
Soaked in sweat, 29-year-old construction worker Yau is among the crowd, buying a litre of water to help beat the heat on Wednesday.
“I spend at least HK$100 a day on water lately. It is expensive, and I get poor just drinking water to survive the heat,” said Yau, who works without shade for a few hours every day.
At some stores, a one-litre bottle of cold water can set a busy worker back as much as HK$20.
The recent heatwave has also taken a toll on indoor workers. Cleaner Zoe Ip, who keeps the back staircases, car parks and outdoor areas at a private estate tidy, described the weather this summer as particularly “stifling” compared with past years.
Thanks to limited indoor ventilation, Ip said the air felt “thinner”, leaving her low on energy and her mouth feeling dry after just 20 minutes of sweeping the floors.
“I felt dizzy after hosing down the stairs today and had to sit down to recover and hydrate,” she said, who drinks at least four litres of water a day to stay hydrated in the heat.
Ip and Yau are among the manual workers in Hong Kong bearing the brunt of extreme heat, prompting calls from union leaders and meteorologists for heat-related illnesses to be added to the statutory occupational injury list.


They also urged authorities to introduce heat subsidies for buying water, require the reporting of heatstroke cases and review the heat stress warning system.
By Thursday, peak temperatures of 33 degrees or more were recorded at the Observatory for nine consecutive days, already making it the longest recorded streak of very hot days for the month of August.
It came a day after maximum temperatures reached up to 37.5 degrees in parts of the city.
“Carrying out manual labour in the heat is hazardous, and workers are the ones bearing that risk … we hope both workers and employers understand that,” said Joe Wong Nai-yuen, chairman of the Cleaning Service Industry Workers Union.
He compared the proposed stipend with the typhoon allowance for cleaners who work during severe rainstorms. “The heat subsidy could support workers to purchase more water for hydration,” he said.
Former Observatory director Lam Chiu-ying said he had heard about cases of heatstroke at work sites every day lately while listening to the radio, but noted a lack of such reports on other platforms, which pointed to a “systematic issue”.
“It could be rectified if the reporting of heatstroke cases at work sites to the Labour Department is made mandatory,” he wrote on social media.
Aside from street cleaners and construction workers, union chairman Wong noted others faced similar hardships but were often overlooked.
“Those working indoors or in semi-enclosed spaces, whether in cleaning, security, repair or in warehouses … they suffer from stuffy, high-humidity work conditions, yet that kind of hardship just goes unseen.”
Wong also advocated for heatstroke and related illnesses to be classified as work injuries.
Recognising heatstroke as a work injury was “extremely difficult”, as employers could argue the worker had not taken enough rest or had poor health to begin with, he said.
“But for those working under extreme heat long-term, their bodily functions are bound to take a toll over time,” he said.

On Sunday, the Observatory logged a maximum temperature of 36.9 degrees at its headquarters in Tsim Sha Tsui – the highest level since the forecaster began keeping records in 1884.
The record-breaking heat sparked controversy over the Labour Department’s Heat Stress at Work Warning system, as only the lowest-tier alert was issued that day despite the extreme weather.
It also prompted questions about the effectiveness of the local heat index reflecting outdoor working conditions, and calls to adopt an international measurement formula that gives greater weight to direct sunlight, known as the wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT).
According to the WBGT index readings for Sunday from the city’s forecaster, the maximum 60-minute mean figure for all 10 monitoring stations surpassed 31 degrees, with Hong Kong Wetland Park recording the highest reading, at 34.8 degrees.
In Japan, which uses the WBGT for its heat stress benchmark, a reading of 31 degrees or above would trigger the top-tier red “danger” warning.
Construction worker Yau said some of his colleagues had felt dizzy after standing in the sun for long periods since the heatwave started on Sunday.
In addition to a heat subsidy to buy water, he said he hoped for more water stations and fans to be installed at his construction site.
Yau also noted that even wearing a portable fan around his waist was not enough to stay cool. “But as you can see, I am still drenched in sweat,” he said.
Ip, who is in her fifties, said some of her fellow cleaners in other buildings were reluctant to take too much rest, for fear that estate residents would complain.
She urged society to be more understanding. “Cleaning may look easy, but the repetitive motion consumes our joints, waists and knees especially under the stifling weather, and drains us,” she said.


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Hong Kong weather

How Hong Kong can protect manual workers bearing brunt of heatwave

A construction worker carries an electric fan amid the extreme heat. Photo: Sam Tsang

Lam Chiu-ying has called for the mandatory reporting of heatstroke cases at work sites to the Labour Department. Photo: Eugene Lee

Hong Kong’s subdivided flats are turning into heat traps. But what’s the fix?

Yang Fangxin is among residents stuck sweltering in subdivided flats. Photo: Dickson Lee

Sze Lai-shan, deputy director of the Society for Community Organisation, has said that providing electricity bill subsidies for tenants in subdivided flats could help ease their financial burden. Photo: May Tse

Yang says she had to switch on two fans and an air conditioner just to bring the temperature down to 37.8 degrees. Photo: Elson Li

Secretary for Housing Winnie Ho has said landlords for more than 34,000 subdivided flats have already applied for a subdivided housing regulatory revamp’s grace period. Photo: Dickson Lee

Extreme heat grips Hong Kong as expert, labour groups urge district-level index

A construction worker shelters under an umbrella in Central. Photo: Karma Lo

Workers take a rest during the extreme heatwave this week. Photo: Sam Tsang

Commissioner for Labour Sam Hui earlier said his department was working with the Observatory to make it easier to trigger higher-tier alerts during extreme heat. Photo: Elson Li

Hong Kong considers lowering heat-stress warning thresholds amid criticism

Labour officials are reviewing the sensitivity of Hong Kong’s heat-stress warning system after it remained at its lowest level during record heat. Photo: Sam Tsang

Commissioner for Labour Sam Hui says the heat-stress warning system may be adjusted to better reflect exceptionally high temperatures. Photo: Elson Li

News

Hong Kong

Health & Environment

Heatwave has taken toll on indoor and outdoor workers, triggering calls for authorities to review heat stress prevention measures


Heatwave has taken toll on indoor and outdoor workers, triggering calls for authorities to review heat stress prevention measures.


How Hong Kong can protect manual workers bearing brunt of heatwave

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Heatwave has taken toll on indoor and outdoor workers, triggering calls for authorities to review heat stress prevention measures

Heatwave has taken toll on indoor and outdoor workers, triggering calls for authorities to review heat stress prevention measures