HSE rejects workplace temperature limit

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) Board has rejected amending the law to impose an upper workplace temperature limit, despite strong union arguments in favour of a limit.

The decision taken at the board in September was in response to a TUC paper, which called for an absolute maximum temperature of 30°C (27°C for those doing strenuous work), at which point workers should not have to work and an employer should be liable for prosecution.

In September the Board considered a paper done at the request of the former Secretary of State James Purnell. HSE commissioned research from an academic Ray Kemp, who concluded that “on balance, the workplace temperature issue is not one that justifies active regulatory intervention.” Instead Kemp called for “improved joint working between all parties to the issue – government, trade unions and employer representatives.”

The Board called for more research into the issue, including on those sectors most affected and on the effects of the various options.

Copies of the paper submitted to the HSE Board and Professor Kemp’s report are now available on the HSE website at www.hse.gov.uk/aboutus/meetings/hseboard/2009/230909/psepb0987.pdf