Thursday, July 21, 2022

Madrid street-sweeper's death prompts curbs on heatwave working hours


Wildfires in Spain

Wed, July 20, 2022

MADRID (Reuters) - The death of a Madrid street-sweeper from heat stroke has prompted companies providing the service in the Spanish capital to adopt measures including halting work during heatwaves, the Madrid mayor announced.

José Antonio Gonzalez, 60, died on Saturday after collapsing at work the previous day. Emergency services said his body temperature was close to 42 degrees Celsius and he died from heat stroke in hospital.


The man's son, Miguel Angel Gonzalez, told El Pais newspaper that his father was hoping to have a one-month contract extended and was working that afternoon because he had swapped shifts with a colleague.

"I am convinced that he did not stop cleaning that street until he fainted. He thought his contract was not going to be renewed and he was giving his all to prove himself," he said.

His contractor, Urbaser, did not respond to a request for comment.

The death prompted municipal worker unions to call for a change in working conditions. On Tuesday, the unions and contractors providing municipal services - Cespa, Urbaser, OHL, Urbaser, Acciona and FCC - signed a new agreement that suspends street sweeping on afternoons where average temperatures climb above 39 degrees Celsius.


Over certain temperatures, the companies must also provide sun cream and caps to the 7,000 workers they employ and use only air-conditioned vehicles.

Madrid Mayor Jose Luis Almeida in a tweet on Tuesday night applauded the agreement. "The unfortunate death we experienced last Saturday cannot be allowed to happen again," he said.

The agreement came too late however for another Madrid street sweeper, who collapsed with heat stroke on Tuesday and was admitted to hospital where he remains in "very serious" condition, the hospital said.

El Pais reported that during the most recent heatwave at least 14 cleaners in Madrid were treated for dizziness and vomiting. Madrid's City Council did not respond to a Reuters request for information.

Emergency services were battling wildfires across southern Europe on Wednesday as warnings sounded in London after Britain's hottest day that the fight against climate change needed to be stepped up.

(Reporting by Belén Carreño, editing by Aislinn Laing and Nick Macfie)

Spanish worker's death shows need to adapt to climate change



RAQUEL REDONDO and BARRY HATTON
Wed, July 20, 2022 

MADRID (AP) — When José Antonio González started his afternoon shift sweeping the streets of Madrid, the temperature was 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) amid a heat wave gripping Spain.

After a long time without a job, González couldn’t afford to pass up a one-month summer contract to sweep the city, where he lived in a working-class neighborhood. Three hours later, the 60-year-old collapsed with heat stroke and was found lying in the street he was cleaning.

An ambulance took the father of two to the hospital, where he died on Saturday.

His death is driving a debate in Spain about the need to adapt labor arrangements to climate change. The poorest in society, often the elderly and the low-paid such as construction workers and delivery riders for whom heat stress is a workplace hazard, have long been identified as being at a disadvantage in attempts to adjust to rising temperatures.

“It’s obvious that social inequalities play a part” in how much people suffer during heat waves, says Júlio Díaz of Spain’s Carlos III Health Institute.

“Enduring a heat wave in an air-conditioned house with a swimming pool is not the same as five people in the same room with a window as the only source of fresh air,” he told Spanish public broadcaster RTVE.

The recent torrid weather in Europe, which has seen a spike in the number and size of wildfires, is forcing the issue to the forefront.

France has already taken some steps to alleviate heat inequality after a 2003 heat wave caused 15,000 heat-related deaths, many of them older people left in city apartments and retirement homes without air conditioning.

Ahead of France's latest heat wave, which set some record temperatures this week, the government reminded employers of their legal obligation to protect workers in extreme heat. That includes free drinking water, ventilation and, if possible, changing working hours and providing extra breaks.

And as Britain prepared for this week’s heat wave, which saw temperatures hit a national record of 40.3 degrees Celsius (104.5 Fahrenheit) on Tuesday, labor unions urged the government to impose maximum workplace temperatures for the first time. Many homes, small businesses and even public buildings in Britain do not have air-conditioning.

Unite, the country’s biggest union, is pushing for a maximum workplace temperature of 27 C (80.6 F) for “strenuous’’ jobs and 30 C (86 F) for sedentary jobs. The union also says employers should be required to take steps to reduce indoor temperatures and impose strict protections for outdoor workers whenever temperatures reach 24 C (75.2 F).

“As the climate changes, it is vital that health and safety law is updated in line with the serious challenges this presents for workers,” said Rob Miguel, Unite’s national adviser on health and safety.

In Madrid, González’s 21-year-old son, Miguel Ángel, says his father, days before he died, had searched on the internet for “how to deal with heat stroke.” The evening before he died, he had arrived home from his cleaning shift gasping for air.

Scientists say the worsening of pre-existing illnesses, not heat strokes themselves, are the main cause of deaths linked to the high temperatures.

The Carlos III Health Institute estimates that 150 deaths in Spain were somehow linked to the heat wave on the day that González died. The following day, the institute attributed 169 deaths to the heat, bringing a total of 679 cases during just the first week of the heat wave.

Ramming home the danger, another Madrid street sweeper was hospitalized with heat stroke on Tuesday.

In places accustomed to high temperatures, such as Spain's southern Andalusia region, construction workers already work only morning hours during the summer.

Three days after González's death, Madrid officials agreed with labor groups that street cleaners could postpone their afternoon shift and work instead amid cooler evening temperatures.

___

Hatton contributed from Lisbon, Portugal. John Leicester in Le Pecq, France and Danica Kirka in London contributed.

___

No comments:

Post a Comment