Rising Waters, Rising Risks: How floods impact workers in global supply chains

Tomorrow, 22 March is World Water Day. Of course water is essential to all life, but the climate crisis is driving increasingly erratic swings between too little and too much water across many regions of the world. These climate impacts have huge implications for workers. 

Ahead of World Water Day 2025, ETI is launching its snapshot on flood risks and impacts for workers in global supply chains.  With this we aim to:

• Explain how floods increase risks and impact workers in global supply chains. 
• Provide recommendations on how responsible business can mitigate risks and address impacts.
• Stimulate collaboration and action between companies, suppliers, and worker representatives. 

As our planet warms, and floods become more frequent and severe, businesses must take action to mitigate risks and respond to impacts on workers in their supply chains.

Climate change driving increased flood risk

Climate change is increasing the likelihood and severity of extreme weather events, including flooding.  As the atmosphere warms, it holds more water vapour, leading to heavier rains and storms, and higher risks of river and surface flooding. Rising sea levels from thermal expansion and melting icesheets and glaciers are also increasing risks of coastal flooding. 

From 2010 to 2020, floods and extreme rainfall events rose 50%.  In 2022, Pakistan received nearly double its typical rainfall, flooding a third of the country and affecting 33 million people, with 8 million displaced.  In 2024, 11 districts in Bangladesh were affected by flooding: 5 million people were impacted, with almost 300,000 displaced.  That same year, torrential rain caused deadly flash floods in Spain. The UN estimates 1.6 billion people will be at risk of floods by 2050, up from 1.2 billion today.

Flood related risks are rapidly increasing in saliency for major industries

Flood risks threaten major production hubs in global supply chains.  Researchers at Cornell University mapped flood risks for 32 major apparel and textile production centres.  Findings indicate over 40% of the population across eight key apparel production centres - including in Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Thailand, Vietnam and Italy - will be vulnerable to flooding by 2030. 

Floods can severely impact employers, workers and community members.  They can disrupt supply chains, affecting workers at multiple stages and across diverse settings.  Our Snapshot uses key clauses of the ETI Base Code as a structure and highlights the importance of crosscutting principles and recurring actions. It forms part of ETI’s work on Just transitions. 

Direct impacts from flooding – Safe and hygienic working conditions

Increased occupational health and safety risks for workers are perhaps flooding’s most immediate and direct impact. Flooding can compromise building integrity, make electrical systems and machinery unsafe, contaminate water sources, disable essential facilities like toilets, and bring contaminated flood waters into workplaces. 

Even when workplaces are not directly affected by flooding, workers may experience severe impacts at home and during commutes to and from work.  Access to potable water and sanitation can also be disrupted, while water and vector borne diseases can spread rapidly during and after flooding.  These effects disproportionately impact workers from lower socio-economic groups, who may live in informal settlements with shared facilities.  Many impacts fall more heavily on women, and result in an increased burden of unpaid work, which in turn may have mental health impacts.

Indirect impacts from flooding

But flooding can also have unexpected indirect impacts on workers’ rights.  For example, flood-related damage and destruction to homes and livelihoods can displace large numbers of people.  Desperate for work to rebuild their lives and provide for their families, these individuals can face heightened risks of forced labour.  Even for those who are not displaced, flood damage to homes and assets may lead workers to borrow money from employers.  These circumstances can place workers at higher risk of debt bondage, a form of forced labour, if workers are unable to leave the employer until the debt is repaid, and or if a worker is required to relinquish identification documents as part of the arrangement. 

At the same time, floods can have far reaching economic consequences. They drive up the prices of essential goods like food, disrupt transportation networks and lead to higher fares, and force workers to replace damaged assets and cover additional healthcare costs.  In contexts lacking robust social protection schemes, workers are likely to be supporting extended family members affected by floods. These impacts underscore the importance of Base Code clause 5, which states wages must “meet basic needs and to provide some discretionary income.” Paying living wages is essential for maintaining a healthy, stable workforce as workers’ inability to cover basic needs can result in higher turnover and diminished ability to adapt and develop new skills. ETI supports the ILO’s agreement which puts social dialogue and collective bargaining at the centre of living wage calculation processes.

How to mitigate risks and respond to impacts

No two flood events are ever exactly alike, and for actions to be effective they must be adapted to suit local context, sector and supply chain. But that said, our Snapshot complements the specific recommendations against each Base Code clause with some overarching cross-cutting principles that we believe need to considered across all flood events and prevention and response actions.  These include the following: 

• Plan ahead, using flood alerts and forecasts issued by trusted authorities. 
• Commit to social dialogue with workers and their representatives, they know their work and realities better than anyone. 
• Recognise that risks and impacts are dynamic, they change as flooding starts, takes hold, subsides and then when clean-up begins – so a continuous approach is essential. 
• Floods affect women and men differently, and can exacerbate existing inequalities; therefore it’s imperative to deliberately and systematically consider gender and social inclusion throughout planning and implementation.  
• Workers must have access to accessible, confidential, and gender-responsive grievance mechanisms, so they can raise concerns and access remedy. 
• Finally, we must collaborate as responsible businesses and committed stakeholders. Flooding is not a new phenomenon: knowledge of effective risk mitigation and response actions is rapidly evolving.  Sharing knowledge and coordinating collective responses through platforms like ETI is vital.

Please read our Snapshot and reach out if you’d like to learn more.