THE TRADE UNION Unite is calling on the government to enact ‘extreme weather’ legislation to protect frontline workers as climate change will lead to more adverse weather events in the future. The call for new protections comes as a report by the union has highlighted how workers are being put at risk during storms in Ireland. Fitzgerald said that new laws are needed to protect workers’ health, safety, and incomes during and after these weather events, and to ensure that they are not forced to make “impossible choices between their safety and their livelihoods”. The Environmental Protection Agency has warned that climate change will intensify adverse weather events, and will cause them to happen more frequently. Unite wants to see the introduction of a statutory obligation on employers to conduct extreme weather risk assessments for all employees, including for essential workers travelling to and from work during extreme weather events.