Green MP to introduce maximum workplace temperature bill

Hannah Spencer, the Green MP who won the Gorton and Denton by-election in February, is to introduce a bill on maximum workplace temperatures.

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She described it as “absurd” that the UK does not have guidance on maximum temperatures in the workplace.

“This is something workers and trade unions have been raising the alarm about for many years,” she told the Guardian. “It shouldn’t have taken this long to act, but the unsafe temperatures we’re seeing now should be a huge wake-up call.

“We’ve seen absolute chaos as a result of these recent temperatures, and such a massive human cost, yet we haven’t heard a peep from government about how they plan to protect us all.”

It comes as researchers from Imperial College London, the Met Office and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine estimated that more than 2,700 people are thought to have died from heat-related causes during the May and June heatwaves in England and Wales.

Spencer said: “From bus and train drivers sweltering in cabins that are hotter than the soaring temperatures outside and bakers working in temperatures of over 40°C, to builders whose workplaces offer no respite from the heat, the government has a duty to protect all of us.

“I had one constituent contact me about the appalling conditions he faced laying Tarmac on roads in Gorton and Denton in temperatures he called unbearable.”

In May, the Climate Change Committee recommended that the government commits to a maximum temperature at work “to protect workers’ safety”, and that it incentivises employers to invest in cooling systems.

The independent advisory body, which was established under the Climate Change Act 2008, proposes a “target indoor temperature range” of between 16°C and 25°C, informed by existing regulations.

The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 say that employers must maintain a reasonable temperature in the workplace, but do not specify a maximum temperature. There is a minimum temperature of 16°C, or 13°C if your work involves considerable physical activity, but employers are also expected to prevent workplaces from being uncomfortably hot.

The TUC has long called for the introduction of an upper limit on workplace temperature so that employers would be forced to act when the temperature inside reaches 24°C. It would mean that staff could be sent home, and employers prosecuted if temperatures at work reach 30°C (or 27°C for those engaged in physically demanding work).

If the bill is passed, the legislation would create an independent body to recommend maximum safe workplace temperatures and set out how those recommendations should be implemented.

Last week, Stephen Timms, the social security and disability minister said in a written statement that the Health and Safety Executive will be launching a public consultation on proposed changes to the Approved Code of Practice for the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992, including those relating to workplace temperature.