Climate Hazards & Resilience in the Workplace

Tool/Resource Complete
Date added: 19/07/2021

All workers whether they work indoors, outdoors, offshore or travel for a living could be increasingly vulnerable to disruption, damage, and potential injury from climate change impacts such as windstorms, flooding, and heatwaves. During 2021-22 Adaptation Scotland and the Scottish Trade Union movement worked together to create resources to help identify the hazards that climate change could bring to a range of different workplaces and to develop adaptation solutions.

The resources are designed to address the human consequences of a changing climate and help workers have a central voice in building resilience to climate risks and championing climate change adaptation solutions which also tackle inequality and social justice.

These tools combine the latest climate change science and the lived experience of trade union representatives from across Scotland, which suggests that climate change impacts, without adaptation, threaten health and safety. Conversely, well planned adaptation action can transform our poorest communities and present massive opportunities for Scotland’s workers and industries.

The new resources comprise:

  • A handbook which makes the case for adaptation from a Trade Union (and broader just transition) perspective including examples of how climate impacts are already impacting schools, offices, shops, depots, warehousing, care homes, hospitals, and outdoor workplace settings.
  • HANDBOOK Climate Hazards and Resilience in the Workplace
  • A workbook which takes users on a step-by-step journey in identifying potential climate change hazards in their workplace and provides information to help union officers and reps in Scotland take action to build resilience and protect workers from the unavoidable impacts of climate change.
  • WORKBOOK Climate Hazards and Resilience in the Workplace

All these resources can be downloaded at the bottom of this webpage, or contact [email protected] for more details.

Webinars and training

Watch the launch event. On 7th July 2022, Roz Foyer, STUC General Secretary; Lilian Macer, Unison Scotland Convenor, and Anna Beswick, Adaptation Scotland programme, launched new resources to help identify climate hazards and improve resilience in Scotland’s workplaces.

Practical training for trade unionists

Development of the resources

There are two additional webinar recordings filmed during the development of the resources which explore in more detail the latest climate science and socially just ways of building resilience in the workplace. The first webinar which introduces the topics (approximately 30 minutes) can be viewed here and a recording of the subsequent in-depth webinar (approximately 1 hour 25 minutes) is available here.


Tool/Resource downloads
Climate_Adaptation_in_the_Workplace.pdf(PDF format - 1,967.22 KB)
WEB_5089_CHRW_Handbook.pdf(PDF format - 6,229.40 KB)
WEB_5089_CHRW_Workbook.pdf(PDF format - 2,770.03 KB)

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