Experts, industry representatives and international brands have urged the government to formulate, enact and enforce a dedicated workplace heat stress standard to protect garment workers from rising temperatures and boost productivity.
They also called for coordinated efforts by the government, factory owners and international brands to revise worker safety protocols, expand access to concessional green financing for smaller factories, and support suppliers in investing in cooling systems.
"The government can set a policy specifying the maximum permissible temperature on production floors," said Md Shamim Ferdous, deputy general manager of Laila Group, at the launch of a study titled "Six Seasons, Four Summers" at a hotel in Gulshan, Dhaka, today (27 October).
He also raised concerns about the upfront investment required for factory cooling systems, asking, "Who will take responsibility?"
Jason Judd, executive director of the ILR Global Labor Institute at Cornell University, said countries such as Vietnam had workplace heat stress standards for industries.
The study was conducted by the US-based ILR Global Labor Institute, the Centre for Entrepreneurship Development (CED) at BRAC University, the Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity (BCWS), and YGEN Engineering.
A workplace heat stress standard or policy sets out rules or guidelines to protect workers from excessive heat and humidity. Such a standard can specify how heat should be measured, when additional rest breaks are required, and what measures employers must take to reduce risks.
The study found that Bangladesh's apparel workers now face a heat-stress season lasting about seven months, from early April to late October. Researchers installed 28 climate sensors across eight apparel factories in the Dhaka region, monitoring conditions hourly in different production sections. They also monitored about three dozen workers' homes.
Factory heat stress remained above outdoor levels throughout the year, with ironing and finishing sections recording the highest heat and humidity. Workers in these sections spent 58% of their workdays in the "High" heat-stress zone, while nearly 18% of their workdays fell into the "Severe" category.
The impact extended beyond factory floors. During a typical June week, workers experienced overnight temperatures above 25°C, while some homes were hotter than factory floors late in the evening and barely cooled overnight.
Heat stress was associated with an average 4.1% loss in working-time productivity across participating factories, rising to 6.6% at the study's fabric mill, according to the report.
To address these risks, the study recommends that manufacturers and buyers measure heat stress according to factory location, production processes and building design. They should assess the costs and returns of cooling solutions with qualified engineers and agree on how the investment costs will be shared.
The report also recommends revising worker safety protocols to cover working hours, work-rest balance, piece rates, production targets and medical leave.
Engineering assessments found that cooling investments could recover their costs relatively quickly. The average payback period was less than a year under the initial scenario, 2.9 years under a pessimistic scenario and 4.4 years in the worst case.
Across the apparel export sector, reducing high heat stress would require an estimated $239 million in capital expenditure. Spread over three years, this would amount to around 0.2% of Bangladesh's 2025 apparel export revenue, the study found.
Kalpona Akter, executive director of BCWS and a labour leader, said the main challenge was that workers' voices were often ignored.
Workers were falling ill due to heat both in factories and at home, sometimes forcing them to take leave, she said.
Sourav Kumar Maitra, a senior official at UNIQLO Bangladesh, Tareq Robin, managing director of YGEN Engineering Ltd and Ariful Islam, treasurer of BRAC University, also spoke at the event.