Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps they are taking to mitigate the impact of extreme heat temperatures on workers with no access to a cool environment during heatwaves.

The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 place a legal obligation on employers to provide a ‘reasonable’ temperature in indoor workplaces. In addition, the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require employers to make a suitable assessment of the risks to the health and safety of their employees and take action where necessary and where reasonably practicable.

Employers must make sure indoor workplaces remain at a reasonable temperature and manage the risk of working outdoors in hot environments. It is for each business to make a risk-based decision on how to minimise the health risks to their workers whilst working in extreme heat. As part of this employers may set their own thresholds at which work activity should take place.

Detailed guidance for employers on workplace temperature and thermal comfort is available on the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) website. This guidance includes information on how to undertake a thermal comfort assessment and specific measures that can be taken to improve thermal comfort.

Employers should consult with employees or their representatives to establish sensible means to cope with high temperatures. Should an employee consider that their employer is not taking appropriate measures to cope with high temperatures, this should be raised with their enforcing authority.