The World Cup continues to be a major concern with extreme heat this year, and the tournament organizers have incorporated hydration breaks into the games to help players stay safe. And some stadiums have air conditioning. But that doesn’t help all the people who sell snacks, clean the stadium, or work in security or parking outside.
Lucia Gambino, of the workers’ rights organization Sur Legal Collaborative, which is offering shade, water, electrolytes, cooling towels, and other supplies and resources to stadium workers in Atlanta, said she has seen people “visibly affected by the heat,” red in the face and reporting lack of access to water or shade. “It’s just a little ironic that FIFA is recognizing that athletes need water, shade, and breaks to stay safe and be able to play, but we don’t see that recognized for workers too,” Gambino said.
Many World Cup host cities fell under the heat dome that settled over the Northeast last week, with extremely high temperatures and heat indexes in Atlanta, Miami, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Philadelphia, New York, and Toronto. This kind of heat isn’t just uncomfortable; it’s dangerous, putting workers at risk of dehydration or heat stroke.
Why this matters
Before the tournament began, an article published in the journal Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism warned that these risks were coming. Global warming is making heatwaves hotter, of course, so the article warned that those who travel to work at the tournament or who do different work than they normally do may not be accustomed to the heat and will face increased risk. And, unlike fit athletes, workers are more likely to have underlying health issues, said study co-author Andrew Grundstein, a professor of geography and atmospheric sciences at the University of Georgia.
Workers also aren’t all employed by FIFA, or by any one organization, he said, which adds complexity to addressing the risks. Some may be directly employed by the stadiums, while others work for contractors or subcontractors, which must comply with local, state, and federal safety regulations, but may have different company policies and ways of communicating risks to employees.
“So I think it’s a very challenging thing to turn into a uniform heat model for all the different workers,” Grundstein said.
The mechanics behind this
This year, the distant tournament has complicated things even further, according to study co-author Maggie Morrissey of Providence College and the Korey Stringer Institute for heat safety. The games are taking place in three different countries, which have different laws regarding heat and worker protection. Those protections — or lack thereof — also vary by state in the US.
“It’s very dependent on the organization or company itself or the state regulation,” Morrissey said about the information and protections available to workers. “But I think FIFA has an important role to play in making people recognize that workers are at risk of heat injury too”.
Bigger context
In a statement, FIFA presented its “stepped heat mitigation model” for the tournament. When forecasts indicate high temperatures, venues add more cooling capacity, including shaded areas and water distribution, the organization said.
“Work and rest cycles for staff and volunteers are adapted accordingly, and first aid preparation is reinforced with clear triage and escalation pathways for suspected heat injury,” the statement said. “These measures scale dynamically based on real-time conditions before and during each event”.
FIFA also said it has a heat injury mitigation task force.
A spokesperson for AMB Sports and Entertainment, the ownership group of the Atlanta stadium, said in an email that the heat wasn’t affecting events there as strongly as other host cities because the stadium is enclosed.
On Tuesday night, during the knockout match between Argentina and Egypt, which started at 12 pm on a day when the temperature in Atlanta hit 93 degrees, “it was clear that the heat was taking a toll,” Gambino said. She saw workers leaving the stadium drenched in sweat and said they were eager to accept the square flyers her organization was distributing. Volunteers also expressed frustration at working in the heat, Gambino said.
Atlanta will host another World Cup match, the semifinal on July 15, when temperatures are expected to be in the high 80s.
What happens next
Stronger regulations to protect workers from heat could help keep people safe, Gambino said. She also said formal collaborations with the stadium or the city could help ramp up efforts to assist workers, such as the resource center from Play Fair ATL — and she hopes that can happen for future large events.
FIFA could also require protections for workers in the conventions that the global organization signs with host cities, Morrissey said.
“We wouldn’t have the World Cup happening if we didn’t have workers,” she said. “It’s like a call to action for FIFA to say they need to step up protection for workers”.