Barcelona seeks to protect workers from heat after death

BARCELONA: Barcelona adopted plans on Wednesday to tighten safety rules to protect sanitation workers from heatwaves after a woman died in the searing temperatures that have hit Spain and much of Europe.The woman, who was employed by a company providing cleaning services to the Mediterranean coastal city, died Saturday after working her shift in mid-heatwave.The city’s four sanitation providers will now be required to activate heat protection protocols when temperatures reach the “yellow alert” level, 34° Celsius (93.2° Fahrenheit), instead of the previous requirement, which kicked in at “orange alert”, or 37°C.“Every year, we’re seeing a new face of climate change and the effects of increasing temperatures on our city. That means we need to update our protocols every year,” said first deputy mayor Laia Bonet after meeting with sanitation companies.The measures provide for five-minute water breaks every hour on the hottest routes, an insulated water bottle for every worker, and routes optimized to keep workers in the shade as much as possible during the sunniest periods.Under “red alerts”, from 40C, employees will only work with vehicles during the hottest hours.The cause of the worker’s death is still being investigated.Spain has been hit by a major early-summer heatwave since the weekend, with temperatures of more than 40C in many places.It was the country’s hottest June on record, according to the national weather service.