Heat-safe rentals pushed to protect from quiet killer
Heat stress is already weighing on health and productivity despite being largely preventable, informing a push to reform housing and work safety policy.
HEAT-SAFE rentals and tougher workplace safety rules for outdoor workers on scorching hot days have been proposed by a state climate policy advisory body.
Identifying extreme heat as an under-recognised and preventable killer, the NSW Net Zero Commission has called for urgent policy action on planning, housing and workplace protections.
“Unlike floods or bushfires, heat leaves very little visible destruction, but it is quietly taking lives,” Net Zero Commissioner Professor Andy Pitman said.
“Our current responses to heat stress don’t match the scale of the risk.”
In its recommendations to the state government, the commission calls for heat-resilient urban planning to ensure that new development has sufficient cooling greenery and thermally comfortable buildings.
It also recognises that existing housing stock will accommodate the majority of the population for decades to come, and that tenants of rental, social and Aboriginal housing are the most likely to be living in poorly insulated, badly maintained homes.
A damning Better Renting study of summer conditions experienced by 50 NSW renters revealed indoor temperatures climbing above 40C and reports of hospitalisations due to prolonged heat exposure.
Landlords presently have no obligation to provide homes that maintain safe indoor temperatures and the commission recommends phasing in mandatory thermal safety rules so that rentals have ceiling insulation and air-conditioning, as appropriate.
Landlords should first be made to disclose energy performance ratings at the point of lease.
The commission further calls for tougher SafeWork NSW regulations to protect workers from heat stress, including the establishment of industry-specific thresholds for safe heat exposure.
Extreme heat is already an underestimated cause of deaths and hospitalisations, and human-driven climate change is pushing average global temperatures even higher.
NSW can expect 23 extra days above 35C by 2050 under a high emissions scenario, according to government modelling.
Hot-weather seasons are lasting longer, with a University of British Columbia study finding that Sydney’s summers have become nearly 50 days longer since 1990.
Cities are also vulnerable to extreme heat due to the urban heat island effect, with Sydney’s Western suburbs experiencing temperatures 10 °C higher than the coastal suburbs during heat waves.
