As Hong Kong heats up, calls grow for tougher rules to protect outdoor workers

Hong Kong is warming at nearly half a degree per decade, and on Aug. 9 the city logged its hottest temperature since records began in 1884, with outlying areas hitting 39.8°C. Outdoor workers like 74-year-old cleaner Wong Ping-kuong have no legal right to breaks or work stoppages even on record-breaking days, and must rely on employer goodwill.

The city's Heat Stress at Work Warning system, introduced in 2023, has three tiers — amber, red and black — but has only ever issued amber, even on the hottest day in recorded history. The government revised the thresholds in August after criticism, but the underlying guidance to employers remains voluntary, with no penalties for ignoring it.

Labour Department figures count 76 heatstroke or heat-stress cases from 2022 to 2024 with one death, while an advocacy group's own tally, based on family interviews, counts several suspected heatstroke deaths a year. Workers describe being afraid to rest for fear of being accused of laziness, and small contractors and subcontracted cleaners get none of the shade tents or water that bigger construction sites provide.

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