Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if the Government will introduce (a) maximum temperatures and (b) guidance for managers and employees on reasonable indoor temperatures for areas of government buildings where staff are working.

The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 already place a legal obligation on all employers to make a suitable assessment of the risks to the health and safety of their employees and take action where necessary to minimise those risks as far as reasonably practicable. In addition, the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 place a legal obligation on employers to provide a ‘reasonable’ temperature in indoor workplaces. Detailed guidance including information on how to undertake an assessment and specific measures that can be taken to improve thermal comfort is available on HSE’s website.

The Government has no plans to set in law a maximum permitted working temperature. No meaningful upper limit can be imposed because in many indoor workplaces extreme temperature is not seasonal but is created by work activity. In such environments factors other than air temperature, including radiant temperature, humidity and air velocity, become more significant and the interaction between them becomes more complex with rising temperatures. However, it is still possible to work safely provided appropriate controls are present.

HSE regularly reviews and, where necessary, refreshes the guidance published on its website.