Warehouse workers face increasing exposure to extreme temperatures and climate-related risks. Uninsulated warehouses, loading docks and outdoor storage yards expose workers to temperature extremes and heat stress or cold stress depending on the climate and season.
Heat exposure is particularly
Warehouse workers are exposed to hazardous substances, biological agents and communicable diseases depending on the goods handled and the working environment.
Risks arise from chemical products, cleaning agents, battery systems, fuel storage and damaged goods. In logistics environments handling food
Warehouse work is increasingly characterised by high productivity targets and rapid fulfilment cycles driven by e-commerce and same-day delivery expectations. These pressures result in long shifts, mandatory overtime and intense work pacing.
Excessive working hours cause fatigue, which significantly
Addressing human rights risks in warehousing and logistics requires HREDD that meaningfully involves warehouse workers and their trade unions in identifying, preventing and mitigating harm, and in delivering remedy.
The ITF Warehousing Principles set a floor for labour standards in warehousing
Warehouse work is increasingly shaped by subcontracting, precarious employment and fragmented supply chains, creating risks relating to wages, working conditions and living conditions. Outsourced and agency-based models weaken accountability for fair pay and conditions, leading to low wages
Restrictions on freedom of association and collective bargaining are systemic in warehousing, and they undermine every other human right risk in this section. Restrictions on freedom of association are systemic in warehousing, and they undermine every other right in this section. Fragmented sites
Warehousing is vulnerable to forced labour and human trafficking, particularly where migrant workers are recruited through labour agencies or cross-border recruitment systems.
Risks arise through agency work, temporary contracts and outsourced operations – especially where workers are recruited
Warehouse work presents a range of discrimination-related risks linked to subcontracting, precarious employment and fragmented supply chains. Outsourced and agency-based models can create unequal treatment between workers performing similar roles, particularly where different contractual
Warehouse workers experience violence and harassment from supervisors, colleagues, security personnel, delivery drivers and contractors. Women workers, migrant workers and young workers may face heightened risks.
Harassment takes many forms, including verbal abuse, intimidation, bullying or sexual
Warehouse work is increasingly shaped by complex supply chains, where subcontracting, precarious employment and lone working create distinct risks for workers. Rapid growth in e-commerce and just-in-time delivery has driven widespread outsourcing and short-term contracts, resulting in insecure jobs
