Employers Must Ensure Workers Are Protected During Hot Weather
There’s no law for maximum working temperature, or a point at which it’s officially “too hot” to work — because every workplace is different. However, employers must still stick to health & safety law, including keeping the temperature at a comfortable level and providing clean, fresh air.
Assessing the Risk
As an employer, you must decide what a reasonable temperature should be in your workplace. Under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations, employers must:
- Assess the risks to workers
- Act on any findings by putting controls in place, including temporary or seasonal ones
- Use the HSE’s heat stress checklist (PDF) if workers are at risk from extreme temperatures
⚠️ Remember
Temperature in the workplace is one of the risks you should assess, whether the work is being done indoors or outdoors. Heat is classed as a hazard and comes with the same legal obligations as any other hazard.
Find out more about what you should do to protect workers in high temperatures.
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Dehydration
When working in very hot conditions, dehydration can seriously affect a worker’s health and their ability to function safely.
How to Reduce the Effects of Dehydration
- Encourage workers to frequently drink cool water
- It’s better to drink in small amounts to compensate for the effects of sweating
- Don’t rely on workers saying they are thirsty — this is not a good indicator of dehydration, more an early sign they’re starting to suffer its effects
- When working at a high rate in heat stress conditions, workers should drink around 250ml (half a pint) every 15 minutes
- If workers are exposed to heat stress conditions, encourage them to be adequately hydrated before they come to work
Where Ability to Drink Is Restricted
Some situations make it harder for workers to drink — for example, if they’re wearing personal protective equipment (PPE). In these situations you could encourage workers to drink:
- 500ml (a pint) of water per hour before work starts
- The same amount again during their rest periods
If water loss is significantly greater through increased sweating, workers should increase the amount they drink proportionately. Even if lost sweat is replenished with equal amounts of water, workers may still be dehydrated due to lost salt — so it’s a good idea to have drinks that contain the salts needed.
Other Preventable Measures
- Making sure windows can be opened or closed
- Providing fans to cool the air, or local heaters
- Checking that air conditioning units are maintained
- Introducing flexible hours or early/late starts to avoid high or low temperatures
- Relaxing formal dress codes to allow fewer or more layers of clothing
- Insulating hot machinery or pipes
- Moving workstations away from hot machinery or out of direct sunlight
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