The Silent Killer Heat.. Are Our Cities Ready to Adapt?

High temperatures in Kuwait are no longer a seasonal phenomenon discussed during the summer and then forgotten; they have become a structural variable affecting public health, the labor market, energy costs, and the very form of the city itself. On May 31, 2024, Kuwait recorded 51 degrees Celsius in the shade, a reading meteorologist Adel Al-Saadoun described as the first of its kind for the month of May in 65 years. In July 2016, the Murbah station recorded 53.9 degrees Celsius, a reading endorsed by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) as the highest documented in Asia. Celeste Saulo, Secretary-General of the WMO, described the extreme heat in June 2025 as a “silent killer,” noting that while it is one of the most lethal climate risks, it is among the least recognized and managed; we issue warnings and take shelter from hurricanes, but we often remain silent in the face of heat.

The most prominent regulatory response to date is the ban on outdoor work, which prohibits employers from operating workers in open spaces between 11:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., from June 1 to the end of August each year. This is a commendable step. However, the calendar-based approach, which pre-determines specific months and hours, contains a fundamental flaw in my view: heat stress does not read calendars. In a June 2025 statement, Human Rights Watch noted that “calendar-based bans are insufficient, as extreme heat occurs outside the hours or months when the ban is in effect.” Local evidence reinforces this conclusion: a 2023 study published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, which analyzed reported work-related injuries in Kuwait’s private sector during the ban months between 2015 and 2019, found that the risk of occupational injury on a day with an average daily temperature of 39.4 degrees Celsius was approximately 44 percent higher than on a day with an average temperature of 37 degrees Celsius, despite the ban being in effect. The researchers concluded that calendar-based regulations may be inadequate.

Scientifically, the human body does not respond to air temperature alone, but to the interaction of heat, humidity, wind speed, and solar radiation. This is expressed through the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) index, adopted in the international standard ISO 7243 for assessing heat stress, which occupational health agencies in many countries use as a guide for regulating workloads. This means that a day with a lower thermometer reading but higher humidity or greater solar radiation may be more dangerous to the body. Furthermore, vulnerable groups are not limited to construction workers; the elderly, infants, and children are at higher risk of heat-related illnesses, as are anyone working outdoors for long hours. The city itself exacerbates the problem. Dark surfaces and concrete absorb heat during the day and release it at night, creating an “urban heat island” that intensifies after sunset and weakens nighttime cooling, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. When neighborhoods are designed without shade, trees, or air corridors, walking during peak months becomes a health hazard.

Then comes the traditional solution—more air conditioning—which increases electrical loads, boosts fuel consumption and emissions, meaning we treat the symptom while feeding the cause. Addressing this requires, in my view, a shift from a “seasonal ban” to a “comprehensive heat management system.” First, operational limits based on the WBGT index should be automatically activated when specific thresholds are exceeded, regardless of the date, with graduated work and rest schedules according to the intensity of physical exertion, while maintaining the current ban hours as a minimum floor that cannot be breached.

Second, establish an early warning system for heat, involving meteorological authorities, health agencies, labor inspectors, and municipal authorities, which issues graduated alerts reaching schools, care centers, and companies. Third, implement heat-acclimatization programs for new workers, as recommended by the U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, which advises gradually increasing exposure over seven to fourteen days, while recording heat-related illnesses in a national health surveillance system that measures actual health impacts rather than merely counting violations. Fourth, update urban design standards to mandate shading, reflective roofs, drought-resistant native trees, and improved thermal insulation, prioritizing the most vulnerable neighborhoods, which directly aligns with the principle of environmental justice. Fifth, expand centralized cooling in high-density areas and link it to solar energy to alleviate summer peak loads on the power grid. Effective mitigation does not mean abandoning seasonal restrictions, but rather complementing them. Seasonal bans based on the calendar are a simple tool that is easy to enforce and inspect, a genuine advantage that should not be relinquished. What is needed is a second, intelligent layer operating above it, capturing dangerous days outside the prescribed window. This approach combines procedural simplicity with scientific precision. Adaptation is not a substitute for emissions reduction, but an urgent necessity, because the cost of delay exacts a toll on health, productivity, and lives. Kuwait, which records some of the highest temperatures on the planet during peak days, has the opportunity to transform from a city suffering from heat into a regional laboratory for heat-adaptive cities. The right question is no longer: How high will temperatures rise this summer? But rather: Are we ready for them? Dr. Mohammed Al-Saigh