LRD guides and handbook July 2018

Health and safety law 2018

Chapter 5

Temperature



[ch 5: pages 79-80]

Employers must ensure the temperature in all workplaces inside buildings is “reasonable” during working hours. This means providing reasonable comfort without the need for special clothing.



The ACOP says that workrooms should normally be at least 16°C for most types of work, and at least 13°C for work involving considerable physical effort. For most kinds of work, the acceptable range of thermal comfort lies between 16°C and 24°C.



Although a maximum temperature is not specified, a workplace must be “adequately thermally insulated” and the “excessive effects of sunlight on temperature shall be avoided”. The World Health Organisation says that in temperate climates the optimum indoor temperature is between 18°C and 24°C, and reps can use these figures to negotiate better standards than those laid down by law. Other factors such as draughts and humidity must also be considered when aiming for a comfortable temperature.



All reasonable steps should be taken to achieve a temperature which is as close as possible to comfortable, including insulating hot pipes and equipment, providing air cooling plants, shading windows, siting workstations away from hot areas and using air cooling plants. The ACOP says that suitable protective clothing and rest facilities should be provided where local heating or cooling fails to provide reasonable comfort. Where practical, there should be systems of work (such as task rotation) to ensure the amount of time individual workers are exposed to uncomfortable temperatures is limited.



Regulation 7 says that a sufficient number of thermometers must be provided to enable workers to check temperatures in indoor workplaces.



HSE advice on thermal comfort is available on the Temperature pages of the HSE website (www.hse.gov.uk/temperature).



Campaign for legally enforceable maximum temperature



The TUC reports that heat is one of the biggest causes of complaint to safety reps during the summer and unions have long campaigned for a legal maximum temperature of 30 degrees Celsius (27 degrees for those doing strenuous work) under the slogan “Cool It!”. 


In June 2017, the TUC published a new guide for trade union activists on dealing with high temperatures in the workplace. This provides information on the legal position, the scale of the problem and advice on indoor and outdoor work.

The Cool It! guide can be downloaded at: www.tuc.org.uk/sites/default/files/TemperatureGuide.pdf.