Cambio climático y trabajo en los sectores de emergencias y protección civil

Climate change intensifies occupational risks in emergency and civil protection sectors, exposing workers to extreme weather, excessive heat, UV radiation, air pollution, and vector-borne diseases. These professionals, already facing demanding working conditions and physical and psychosocial hazards, now encounter aggravated challenges that demand urgent legal responses. Spain’s legal framework, though improved with measures like “paid climate leave” and mandatory emergency protocols, remains fragmented and inadequate. A comprehensive reform of labor and sector-specific legislation is needed to structurally incorporate climate-related risks into occupational safety systems. International experiences provide adaptable models. A just ecological transition must ensure safe, resilient, and dignified working conditions for frontline responders to climate crises, reinforcing the link between environmental sustainability, occupational health, and labor rights in the face of an increasingly unstable climate scenario.