Workers describe broken fans and missing heat safeguards at factories
The Associated Press interviewed more than a dozen garment workers in Karachi, all of whom described scorching workplaces, absent heat protocols and negative health effects, including fainting. Ten said they made goods for global brands sold in the United States and Europe. All but one said they lost wages when heat-related illness forced them to miss work, and only one said they had paid sick leave.
The workers spoke on condition their identities be protected because they feared retaliation by their employers. Several said they had fainted themselves, some multiple times, while all said they had seen co-workers faint from the heat. Those who fainted were often offered only a short break or sugary drink before being told to resume work, and the workers said complaints to supervisors produced no changes.
At a garment factory on the outskirts of Karachi, machines whirred around Siddiqui as her vision blurred and her heart hammered. The room was packed with sweating co-workers and huge industrial equipment that radiated heat, and the air felt thick with the humidity of the summer monsoon. Siddiqui felt as if she were suffocating, and concerned co-workers called over her supervisor. “The supervisor said, ‘Just complete this work,’” Siddiqui, 28, told The Associated Press. “Suddenly darkness came before my eyes.” Exhausted by the heat, she collapsed. The Associated Press is identifying her only by surname because she fears retaliation by her employer.
For workers like Siddiqui, extreme heat — temperatures at or above 32.2 C (90 F) combined with high humidity — is not just a workplace hazard. She lives with her six children in a small room without air conditioning on the outskirts of Karachi, where temperatures routinely exceed 37.8 C (100 F) during heat waves. The factory where she stitches clothes for Spanish brands such as Zara and Mango is hotter: huge machines churn heat into the air, fans are often broken or small, and windows are slitlike and set high, or even closed to deter theft, further trapping the heat, workers told The Associated Press. “Smoke, heat, you face it,” said a 34-year-old male factory worker.
The accounts also described sparse workplace protections. All the workers said no heat sensors were installed. One said a ventilation system had been installed, but it was turned on only when auditors visited for an inspection. Several said metal roofs made the summer heat unbearable, yet they received no extra water or breaks. Employers provided water, the workers said, but it was rarely cold and they were unsure whether it was clean. “Sometimes it smells like dead rats,” the 34-year-old worker said.
Extreme heat can show few outward symptoms while causing severe internal damage and worsening conditions including cardiovascular disease, diabetes and asthma. Studies have linked it to dehydration, heatstroke, organ failure and death. “The longer you work in the heat, the less that you’re protected from it and the health risks rise,” said Andreas Flouris, founder of FAME Lab, which researches heat’s effect on health. The Associated Press said the number of people exposed to extreme heat is growing exponentially because of climate change. The World Health Organization says heat stress is a leading cause of weather-related deaths, while studies by World Weather Attribution say climate change has drastically increased the frequency, intensity and risks of extreme heatwaves in Pakistan.
Workers described temporary muscle paralysis, swollen limbs, blood pressure swings, breathing problems, blurred vision and exhaustion that peaked in the hottest months. One worker showed scaly skin rashes on her arms from routine chemical exposure and said the pain intensified during summer.
Siddiqui wept on the floor of her home as she described fainting and being sent to the hospital. Earning 15,000 Pakistani rupees ($54) a month, she said the hospital visit cost, which her employer refused to pay, left her unable to buy food for her children. “Sometimes they eat one meal, sometimes they don’t eat a meal,” she said, adding that the younger children sometimes cry from hunger. “The older ones have gotten used to it.”
Flouris said simple, scalable and economically feasible measures include accurately measuring temperature and humidity inside workplaces, providing cold drinking water and allowing workers breaks. Other measures include barriers to block radiant heat from machinery, quality ventilation and cooling systems, and painting rooftops white to deflect sunlight. “We’re talking about some very simple strategies,” Flouris said. The workers said almost none of these measures were taken in their workplaces.
Pakistan’s garment factories produce blue jeans and homeware for global companies that have pledged to protect workers’ safety. Experts and labor rights advocates said those promises remain unfulfilled as temperatures rise and workers bear the health and safety costs; their complaint is about enforcement, or whether pledged protections reach workers exposed to the heat.
Farhan Haider, a program manager at the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research in Karachi, said Pakistan has national and provincial laws and constitutional protections meant to shield workers from such conditions. Some companies supplied by the factories, including Inditex — Industria de Diseño Textil SA, Zara’s parent company — and Mango, have signed legally binding agreements to protect workers or have their own company safety pledges.
The most concrete of those safety efforts, the International Accord for Health and Safety in the Textile and Garment Industry, announced in 2025 that it would treat heat as a workplace safety risk and develop heat-stress protocols; the protocols remain under review and are not yet in effect. Representatives of the Pakistan Accord, a country-specific safety program that operates as an extension of the broader accord, did not reply to a request for interview or comment. Cara Schulte, a researcher at Climate Rights International who published a report in 2025 about worker conditions in Pakistan, said brands have a responsibility to ensure their suppliers are held accountable for worker safety, including extreme heat. In an email to The Associated Press, an Inditex spokesperson said the company is strengthening efforts to address heat stress in its supply chain through updated factory audits, guidance and training for suppliers, and collaboration with industry initiatives. A Mango spokesperson called worker health and safety a “non-negotiable priority” and said the supplier code of conduct was “strengthened this year to explicitly address extreme temperatures and heat stress.”
Sadia Javed, a government spokesperson for Sindh province, where Karachi is located, and a member of the Provincial Assembly, acknowledged that implementation remains an issue. She said: “The government is making efforts to enforce these regulations, but given the province’s vast size and the presence of numerous industrial zones, complaints are inevitable.” For workers like Siddiqui, complaints remain ignored as temperatures continue to rise. Siddiqui said: “If you feel too unwell, (supervisors) say, ‘This is an everyday problem. Women cry and complain a lot, but the work still must be done.’”
The reporting was supported by the Pulitzer Center. Victoria Milko wrote the report; Associated Press video journalist Muhammad Farooq, reporter Adil Jawad and freelance journalist Pernia Mubashir contributed. Associated Press reporter Anton L. Delgado contributed from Bangkok. The Associated Press said its climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations and that it is solely responsible for all content.
What the account documents is a worker told to complete the work in dangerous heat, and a collapse behind her. Alongside it sits an industry whose buyers have pledged worker safety; experts and labor rights advocates say those pledges remain unfulfilled, with workers absorbing the cost in their health and safety as temperatures rise.