Usdaw urges employers to keep workers safe as temperatures rise and calls for a maximum workplace temperature

Joanne Thomas – Usdaw general secretary says: “Heat stress is a real health and safety risk that can lead to more accidents and injuries. As the temperature rises, heat exhaustion starts. People begin to suffer loss of concentration, irritability, dizziness, headaches, nausea and fainting. Under current regulations, there is a legal minimum temperature limit for working indoors. However, there is currently no law stating a maximum - only the responsibility to assess the risks and provide temporary, local cooling methods, access to water and rest facilities where necessary. 

“Despite the absence of legislation, we are calling on employers to take measures to keep workers safe and work with trade union health and safety reps to provide substantial measures to mitigate the risks. No-one should have to work in extreme and dangerous conditions.

“Usdaw has long campaigned for the introduction of a legal maximum working temperature of 30°C, or 27°C for those doing strenuous work, with employers obliged to adopt cooling measures when the workplace temperature hits 24°C. So, we welcomed the recommendation of the Climate Change Committee and look to the Government to act. Workers deserve a legal right to be protected from the heat and as the world hurtles towards 1.5 degrees of warming, this issue is only going to become more of an urgent priority."