A heat-health alert has been issued for most parts of England as temperatures reach 32 degrees. The yellow warning is in place until Sunday 10 September.
This is an apt time for employers to revisit the Health and Safety Executive's guidance issued during the heatwave in June this year, calling upon employers to protect workers in extreme hot weather.
Regulation requires employers to ensure that inside workplaces have reasonable temperatures and to consider risks from extreme weather, including heat waves, when assessing workplace health and safety. However, despite current regulation there have been calls from both Unions and MPs to go further and require a complete stop on work where indoor temperatures reach 30°C and, in the case of strenuous work, 27°C.
Following an increase in advice sought following last year's heat waves, and in the absence of a prescribed temperature limit, HSE have published 'simple and cheap' measures employers should consider when temperatures rise in the UK. Some of the measures include:
- Placing workstations away from direct sunlight and heat sources;
- Providing free access to drinking water;
- Relaxing dress codes where possible and providing weather appropriate PPE;
- Offering flexible working patters so that work is performed at cooler times of the day; and
- Making sure that windows can be opened or closed.
Employers can implement an extreme weather policy to address health and safety difficulties arising from extreme cold or warm weather. A policy can address a flexible approach to working during such conditions, the procedure where travel is disrupted, how absences and pay will be handled and how the company will communicate information on the impacts of extreme weather.
Find out more here.
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