A defined standard would let employers and workers know exactly when protective measures must apply
British Columbia workers and unions are calling on WorkSafeBC to set a single, enforceable heat threshold instead of situational guidance amid inconsistent heat-safety expectations that can expose employers to grievances.
WorkSafeBC requires employers to assess heat-stress risk and implement controls.
“Employers should engage workers and/or joint health and safety committees in the process and monitor and adjust these plans and controls as needed,” the agency notes.
However, it does not name a specific temperature at which work becomes unsafe, CBC News noted; the regulator advises employers to begin monitoring conditions once temperatures approach 23 C to 25 C, though it stresses that range is not an exposure limit.
In June, WorkSafeBC issued a public advisory urging employers to assess and control summer weather hazards before conditions deteriorate, warning that officers will conduct inspections this season to verify compliance.
Union says standard needed
Geoff Higginson, president of the B.C. branch of the Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers union (BAC 2), told CBC News the current approach leaves too much open to interpretation.
A defined standard would let both employers and workers know exactly when protective measures must apply, he said.
During the 2021 heat dome, when Lytton, B.C., recorded the province's highest-ever temperature at 49.6 C, Lee was working at a greenhouse where roughly half his co-workers were over 60. Staff sheltered in a flower cooler, and Lee told CBC News it was "quite concerning" not knowing whether colleagues would make it through the shift.
The regulator previously said it is examining its climate and heat exposure regulations as part of its 2024–2026 Regulatory Workplan, though that review remains in early stages.
Union-built app fills gap
The local branch of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE 891), representing B.C. film and television workers, built its own heat-stress app after members reported incidents in summer 2022 serious enough to require ambulance transport, CBC News reported.
IATSE 891 business representative Crystal Braunwarth told CBC News the app, paired with a low-cost hygrometer, measures temperature and humidity using an assessment method she says WorkSafeBC accepts.
Even an "unsafe" reading does not obligate an employer to act. Braunwarth said the tool was designed to give workers evidence to bring forward "and say, 'Hey, this is a problem, let's work together to fix it.'"
B.C. think tank BC Policy Solutions, previously argued that the underlying regulation itself is out of date. A June 2026 report recommends that WorkSafeBC adopt a predetermined "trigger temperature" model, similar to the approach used in most U.S. states, rather than the open-ended system currently in place.
