28-04-2025
‘Climate leave' for NI workers among union's extreme weather proposals
Unite said it has been engaging with Stormont departments to discuss its proposals to protect workers from the impact of extreme weather since the 2018 death of Unite member Matthew Campbell.
Mr Campbell (24) died during Storm Ali after being struck by a falling tree in Slieve Gullion Forest Park. The electrical engineer died just months before he was due to get married.
He was crushed to death by a falling 200-year-old beech tree, dying instantly in what was described in court as 'a freak accident' which 'could have — and should have — been avoided'.
Last April, Newry, Mourne and Down District Council was fined £20,000, while Lagan Construction Ltd was handed a £30,000 fine, after admitting 'health and safety failings'.
Unite also noted that of the 17 people who have died in the Republic as a result of named storms since 2014, five were killed either while working outdoors or while travelling to or from work.
The union carried out a survey for International Workers' Memorial Day today, with 1,225 members from across Northern Ireland responding.
It found that 59% of those whose work included outdoor responsibilities still had to perform them on the day of the storm. Of these, only 23% said they felt safe and 66% said they did not consider their employer had taken all reasonable precautions.
Of those whose employer did not require them to work on the day of the storm, over half had to take the day as annual leave, unpaid leave, flexitime, sick leave or time-off-in-lieu or holiday.
Unite's proposals include an obligation on employers to conduct risk assessments during extreme weather events, cease all routine outdoor work during orange alerts, and cease all non-essential indoor and outdoor work during red alerts, with workers continuing to be paid during such closures.
The union is also proposing four days' paid climate leave, along the lines of that introduced in Spain following last year's devastating Valencia floods, if conditions render travel hazardous or workers need to address pressing domestic needs resulting from extreme weather.
The union says a maximum working temperature should be set depending on the type of work and the working environment.
It wants obligations on employers to attempt to reduce high temperatures.
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It called for an action level of 24C where heat management controls or systems must be put in place and an absolute maximum temperature of 30C — or 27C for 'strenuous jobs' — at which work should stop if these cannot be prevented by using engineering controls.
Unite's Irish secretary Susan Fitzgerald said: 'Accelerating climate change means that the intensity and frequency of extreme weather events are set to increase.
'Workers must not be made to pay the price — in terms of their safety, health and livelihoods — for a climate crisis not of their making'.
A survey of members in the Republic, carried out following Storm Eowyn, found 55% of respondents did not feel safe travelling to and from work during the storm.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: 'On International Workers' Memorial Day, we are demanding that the government climate-proof health and safety laws to ensure that workers' lives and incomes are protected during extreme weather.'
