The Met Office has said temperatures could reach 33C today, while heat alerts remain in place until Monday – but can you stop working if it gets too warm?
The UK could be set for the hottest day of the year for the second day in a row – but can you stop working if it gets too warm? The Met Office has said temperatures could reach 33C today, while heat alerts remain in place until Monday.
A number of areas are expected to have passed the heatwave criteria by this afternoon. It comes after temperatures reached as high as 32.2C in Kew in west London yesterday.
But when it comes to working in hot conditions, there is no maximum working temperature specified in law. This is because some work environments always involve working in high heat, for example, those working in glass works.
However, employers still have to make sure their employees are working in a safe environment, according to William Walsh, a partner in the employment team at law firm DMH Stallard.
He said: “The legal responsibilities in respect of health and safety in the workplace still apply and this means carrying out a risk assessment and ensuring that employees work in temperatures that are reasonable and do not place their health and safety at risk.
“The nature of the work will be relevant, as will factors such as whether employees need to wear protective clothing as part of their job that may make it harder still for employees to keep cool.”
If you work in an office, Mr Walsh says this could mean altering specific dress codes, for example, if you’re normally required to wear long trousers, shirts and ties. For those who work from home, the same health and safety obligations still apply.
He said: “The risks should be much lower, as home workers are unlikely to be undertaking physical tasks and, even if they were told to stop working, those individuals would still be in their same home environment.
“But the issue should not be discounted altogether. If, for example, it was known that an employee was working from their home office set up in a small box room up in a loft conversion, where it could get uncomfortably hot, they should be encouraged to move.”
The TUC workers’ union wants to make it illegal to keep people at work indoors if the temperature is above 30°C and protection in place for people working outside or driving for a living too.
It also recommends that workers should also be allowed to take frequent breaks to help them keep cool. There is a recommended minimum temperature for a workplace, although it isn’t set in law.
This is 16C, or 13C if employees are doing physical work. The Health and Safety Executive provides the regulatory framework for work place health and safety in Britain.