Some Like It Hot

Maximum temperatures for indoor workplaces

When temperatures soar PCS reps always get asked about maximum temperatures in which members can be expected to work. The bad news (brace yourself) is that there is no upper legal limit.

That's right. NO UPPER LIMIT. The following limits have provisionally been adopted by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) and are meant as a trigger to indicate that a thermal comfort risk assessment may be necessary.

The limits have been set up to take into account differences between premises, types of occupations and the ability to control the environments in those situations.

Things to look out for include:

• Air conditioned offices: Are more than 10% of employees complaining of being too hot or too cold?

• Naturally ventilated offices: Are more than 15% of employees complaining of being too hot or too cold?

• Retail businesses, warehouses, factories and all other indoor environments that may not have air conditioning: Are more than 20% of employees complaining of being too hot or too cold

If the answer is YES to any of the above, then employers may need to conduct a thermal comfort risk assessment. When conducting such an assessment employers should:

• listen to workers views and concerns. They are experts in their jobs, and may have noticed things that are not immediately obvious.

• they should speak to employees representatives (PCS) in the workplace;

• contact industry federations or associations etc, and consider speaking to managers in other companies that are involved in the same sort of business;

• contact HSE for advice.

Identifying the problems

A detailed risk assessment may be required or the problem might be solved more simply? Solutions may include:

• closing windows in air conditioned offices;

• pulling down blinds to prevent solar radiant heat etc;

• providing employees with sufficient control to adapt the environment by adding or removing layers of clothing;

• visually inspecting the workplace to identify hazards that may impact on employee thermal comfort;

• looking for patterns in the absenteeism rates, types of illnesses and their frequency of occurrence, the nature of employee complaints etc.

• taking particular note of where the employee may work, their job, how experienced they are, whether any illnesses are recurring etc.

Things to look out for include:

• Are there any heat sources in the workplace?

• Are workers exposed to external climatic conditions?

• Are workers wearing PPE?

• Are workers involved in intensive physical activity?

Consequences of thermal discomfort

Employees could be reporting illnesses and other ailments that may be linked to the thermal environment. These may be revealed via internal accident or injury reports. There may be patterns developing in the nature of reportable accidents or injuries. Repeated accidents could be attributed to the effects of thermally-induced physiological or psychological performance decrements (eg fatigue, loss of concentration etc).

Things to look out for include:

• Do accidents increase during periods of hotter or cooler weather?

• Do absentee rates increase during hotter or cooler weather?

• Are there more complaints during hotter or cooler weather?

• Do more than 20% of employees complain of any of the symptoms of thermal discomfort?

At the time of writing most of the workplaces covered by PCS Home Office Merseyside Branch should have no more than 30% of staff there on a day to day basis due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis which will help keep temperatures down a little but if you notice any of the things listed above in your workplace speak to your manager in the first instance. If nothing changes in a reasonable period of time email your branch PCS Health & Safety reps here with details.

For more information click here to visit the TUC website where you can also sign the petition that calls for changes in the law on maximum temperatures at work.