UK heatwave: How hot is too hot to work under UK law?
https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/uk-heatwave-weather-too-hot-to-work-a4196636.html
Posted by tylerthe-theatre
UK heatwave: How hot is too hot to work under UK law?
https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/uk-heatwave-weather-too-hot-to-work-a4196636.html
Posted by tylerthe-theatre
27 Comments
[About 31°C](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/blackbooks/images/2/27/Daves-syndrome_1333412941.png)
FFS, is there a news bot that is set to publish this recycled story every time the temperature goes above 27°C?
[https://www.gov.uk/workplace-temperatures](https://www.gov.uk/workplace-temperatures)
If you really want to know the answer.
I used to work 12 hour shifts in 40c when the air con broke and management didn’t want to pay to fix it. Because there was no law about maximum temperatures, I didn’t have a lot of choice if I wanted to keep my job.
> guidance suggests a minimum of 16ºC or 13ºC if employees are doing physical work.
> There’s no guidance for a maximum temperature limit.
> Employers must stick to health and safety at work law, including:
> * keeping the temperature at a comfortable level
>
> * providing clean and fresh air
~ [gov.uk](https://www.gov.uk/workplace-temperatures)
Bear in mind that temps are going to continue rising. I think a law should be introduced re workplace temps.
Last line of the article:
>But there are currently no official plans to introduce a maximum working temperature by law.
Here in Aus, where we get 40+ days in peak summer. There is no specific temperature set. Companies do, however, have a duty of care for their employees. Failing to adequately care for staff leaves the company open to lawsuits and heavy fines.
Just about any temperature that makes me sweat is too much.
And the reason? I’m disabled amputee. If it’s a good morning and can get my leg on, the big problem is the silicone suspension sleeve that works by friction grabbing the skin in a gentle manner. The socket that my stump fits into is an epoxy shell, inside of the socket, I have a silicon sleeve covered with Terry towel type sock.
Above the hard shell, there is the external silicon sleeve. None of this is breathable, so the sweat sticks to the skin getting funky for as long as the prosthetic is on.
This is how I put my leg on. The change from wet suit fabric sleeve to silicon is the only change.
MODS this a genuine medical link to my old imgur account and sets out how to put my leg on.
If its not an allowable link I apologise in advance
https://imgur.com/gallery/af84l
Heatwave? Its like its implied we have never had 28 degrees. Before are memories short?
There’s no limit chefs work at ridiculously high temperatures fairly regularly
“TRY WORKIN’ 500 CONSECUTIVE HOURS FOR MINIMUM WAGE ON A CONSTRUCT-“
shut yo ass up
We should implement a maximum temperature.
The issue is for people like me who WFH. My home office regularly gets up to mid-high 20s, with the window open and a fan.
For WFH, should companies be required to provide some kind of AC unit? Or provide their workers with the money to buy one?
But you’d have to prove that your workspace is regularly above a certain temperature. And it’s hard to prove that someone isn’t just faking the temperature in order to get a free AC unit.
My commute is rather long, I only need to do 3 days a week in the office but last Wednesday was really difficult.
Got halfway home and felt I could not carry on, was absolutely exhausted from a day at work and a long travel home.
Sucks that employers seem to not give a shit when the ones making those decisions have lovely air conditioned cars that they can park at the front door. Where as the rest of us have to use public transport and walk the rest.
I work on the railway. when we had the insane few days of heat we were pulling into York after 10pm and it was still 27C. I got talking with a passenger about the heat, and he asked me what the company was doing for us in the heat – I told him that we’d been told we could take off our ties and to drink plenty of water, which made him laugh.
Oh and the best thing? That passenger was the actor David Morrissey. Nice bloke.
Realistically, any upper limits such be in reference to Wet Bulb Thermometer with ‘acceptable means of compliance’ or ‘guidance’ rather than outright, ‘Breach this temperature and straight to jail if anyone is still working’.
We had it out on military exercise, especially in humid environments and carrying kit.
The law!? I work on a farm welding, fabricating and repairing agricultural equipment, I’d get laughed off the farm if I dared to say “it’s too hot to work” probably with a well placed wellington boot firmly planted in my ass for good measure!
Bare in mind, to weld safely I’m wearing very thick leather gauntlets, a baseball cap to protect my head, a full face welding mask for eye protection and to see what I’m welding plus arm coverings as the light from welding will burn you ten times quicker than sunlight! It’s hot sticky hard work but it has to be done! Farmers don’t like to wait for anything, “got to get on” is the mantra amongst the farmers I know, If the rest of this country worked as hard as its farmers we would be world leaders in every-bloody-thing!
I drive a lorry for a living. When you’ve finished loading 9 boiling hot cars on the back in the midday sun, you hop in the cab and set the aircon to cold and drive for a couple of hours. Then you have to sleep in that steel box cab. With a one ton engine 10 inches under the cab, full of boiling oil. The aircon only works when the engine is running and you are parked in a public place at the motorway service area so putting the windows down is not recommended. As far as I’m aware it’s illegal to leave a dog in a car in hot weather but not a lorry driver…
Not UK but for ref Australia – outdoor workers like road construction workers stop at 37.5C . ( nearly 100F) They tend to start early am tho so often have done nearly a full day before it hits the highs.
I think this is very much work dependant. And I think hot weather should sometimes be treated the same as any other extreme weather.
Anyone who is working and at risk of heat stroke should be managed sensibly etc. That includes cooks etc when it is very hot.
Office workers – is the risk of heat stroke higher at work than not at work?
We were working on that 42 degree day we had a couple of summers ago, had to really push to allow people to come in early and leave early too .
I worked in 30 plus degrees in a tyvek suit (read-plastic) with half face respirator collecting 100s of soil samples and it wasn’t considered too hot to work.
Nearly passed out.
Lol, anything above 27 degrees and there’s always someone to ring to get out of doing any work lol. Should go to one of the med countries in the height of summer, or better still so where near the equator, that’ll show you what hot is. It’s not like we get as my sort of heat that often so might as well just crack on lol
Chef here.
Ive done some research into this in the past. There are MINIMUM temperatures which must be adhered to in the workplace with “reasonable effort” being made to keep employees comfortable. I.e. providing clothing, blankets or heating.
When it comes to maximum temperatures, the only real laws are set up around insanely hot workspaces such as metal work factories, chemical plants or firefighters and most of those laws just pertain to PPE. There probably is a max temperature, but it’s several hundred degrees centigrade.
In short, your not getting the day off because of heat unless you actually have underlying conditions or contract heatstroke. Stay hydrated out there people!
I work in a GP surgery. My room is maybe 6×6. I have a desk, a bed, drawers a sink and a seat along with an ECG machine, scales and storage unit. My room has no window as it is internal. I also have a very small I want to say air con unit, but it isnt, it is shit. Between patients I have my door open and the door to get to the area of rooms and try and get ventilation. I have comments from patients saying how sickly the heat is within my room. It is sickly. I try and drink plenty of water. I love heat, but with no breeze it is awful!
As someone who works in construction therefore outdoors. It winds me up that office wankers have both a maximum and minimum working temperature while we will either freeze our arses off or cook alive with a plastic oven on our heads turning our brains into crème brulee as long as the company provides adequate breaks to get a warm drink/get a cool drink
100c is the approx boiling point of blood. Anything less than that and you’re safe to work.
Argos have a sale on aircon units, just bought one, 500 watts and it keeps my small room I wfh much more bearable.