Turning up the heat
Workplace temperatures - week of action this July
Reading time: 3 min
Unions are turning the heat up on employers and being encouraged to join a TUC led week of action where union health and safety reps carry out inspections into their workplace temperatures.
The week of action is scheduled for 14 – 20 July.
With the weather hotting up, so are workplaces. Unite has long been calling on the government to introduce a maximum working temperature and encouraging reps to get involved and monitor temperatures at their workplaces.
Unite national health and safety adviser Rob Miguel has previously said: “Unite is pressing for a maximum temperature for safe working of 27 degrees Celsius for strenuous jobs and 30 degrees Celsius for sedentary jobs.
“As the climate changes, it is vital that health and safety law is updated in line with the serious challenges this presents for workers. We urge the government to get a move on with this so that there can be no ambiguities in the workplace.
The maximum safe working temperature that Unite is calling for is “27 degrees Celsius for strenuous jobs and 30 degrees Celsius for sedentary jobs”, and the union has published Health and Safety guidance for workplace reps.
The TUC encourages reps to use workplace temperatures as a way to organise for safer, cooler workplaces this summer, and will “send you all the tools you need, including a checklist and thermometer.”
Unite’s health and safety reps advice for employers and workers is that:
- Indoor workplaces should be adequately ventilated so they remove and dilute warm and humid air
- Manual workers who work outside or in confined conditions are at particular risk and are vulnerable to heat exhaustion, employers should consider rescheduling work at cooler times of the day and provide cooling area’s such as shade or air-conditioned rest rooms
- Where workers are operating in direct sunlight, employers should attempt to place a cover over the work area.
- Halt work altogether under extreme conditions
For more information on the TUC week of action and to sign up go here.
Unite’s “Temperature at Work” Health and Safety guidance for workplace reps is available here.
By Keith Hatch
