Keep your cool! Tackling heat stress at work (Leaflet 291)

Date: 10 April 2006

Keep your cool! tackling heat stress at work

The law says your employer must maintain a reasonable temperature in your workplace.* It doesn’t specify a maximum reasonable temperature, but employers are expected to take reasonable steps to deal with situations where the temperature is uncomfortably high.

The effects of heat depend on a variety of factors, such as air temperature, humidity, physical exertion, etc. Experts says the 'comfort zone' is normally in the region of 16°C to 24°C.

At temperatures above about 25°C heat exhaustion starts. People suffer loss of concentration, increased accidents and loss of productivity. Symptoms include irritability, dizziness, headaches, nausea and fainting.

Sweating also can cause problems. You can lose as much as two pints of water an hour through sweating. If fluids and salt are not replaced nausea, vomiting and muscle cramps can occur. Prolonged sweating can cause skin rashes and blocked pores (or 'prickly heat').

If your body temperature gets too high, heat stroke can occur. Research has shown that people who are not used to high temperatures can only work for an hour or so at temperatures of 40°C before collapsing, even when the work involves no physical effort.

(* Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992, Reg. 7).

What can you do?

• Under the law, there must be enough thermometers around the workplace for you to determine the temperature where you work.

• If it gets too hot where you work, raise it with management. A good manager will listen to complaints and act on them. Even simple steps like providing cold drinks will help to show that management are sympathetic.

• If your employer recognises the union, your local safety rep can use their legal powers to investigate the problem and take it up with management to get improvements.

• If you work for an employer who does not recognise the union, there may be less Usdaw can do to help.

• Calling in the enforcement authorities may help (Health and Safety Executive for factories, Environmental Health Officers for offices or shops). But the fact that there is no maximum temperature in the law may limit what they can do.

• High temperatures at work can make life a misery and can damage your health. They can be controlled more effectively where the union is recognised and organised.

If you want better health and safety conditions where you work, make sure you're in Usdaw.

Keep your cool! Tackling heat stress at work (Leaflet 291) was correct at date of publication August 2004.

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© 2003 (USDAW) Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers
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Last Modified: Thursday, 11-Sep-2008 21:01:15 EST