It is not reasonable or fair to expect staff to work when it is too hot to safely do so. A maximum temperature of 30°C (27°C for those doing strenuous work) should be introduced so that employers and workers know when action must be taken. This is a recommendation made by the Trades Union Congress (TUC).
Whilst an employer must provide a working environment which is, as far as is reasonably practical, "safe and without risks to health", in the UK there is no legal maximum temperature for workplaces, which means workers are at risk.
Last summer Jeremy Corbyn MP, now leader of the Labour Party, proposed
an Early Day Motion asking the Government to make the TUC's recommendation into law. Corbyn said, "Good employers will have been taking steps to help out their workers in the heatwave. But putting a maximum temperature into law will give everyone a legal right to basic protections from working in unbearable conditions." This week,
Ian Mearns MP has written a new EDM asking for this again.
Please sign to email your MP now to ask them to sign this new EDM.The TUC say, "Employers should still attempt to reduce temperatures if they get above 24°C and workers feel uncomfortable."
Sign now to ask your MP to sign Ian Mearns Early Day Motion 344 calling on the Government to adopt the recommendations of the TUC and joint union Cool It! campaign to introduce into law a maximum working temperature of 30 degrees Celsius (or 27 degrees Celsius for those doing strenuous work), beyond which employers would have a statutory duty to introduce effective control measures. Dear [MP],
As your constituent, I ask you to please sign and support Ian Mearns Early Day Motion 344 which reads as follows:
"That this House notes that workers in the UK lack adequate legal safeguards from working in uncomfortably high temperatures, owing to the lack of a statutory maximum temperature at which employers would have to introduce control measures, such as breaks, access to water or air conditioning; further notes that this would correct an anomaly in current legislation where a legal minimum working temperature exists, but a corresponding upper limit does not exist in statute; appreciates that excessive heat in the workplace is responsible for heat stress and thermal discomfort, and can impact seriously on health, well-being and productivity; recognises that this is a matter of concern for workers in a wide range of workplaces including offices, schools, shops, bakeries, vehicles, trains, call-centres, theatres and construction sites; and calls on the Government to adopt the recommendations of the TUC and joint union Cool It campaign to introduce into law a maximum working temperature of 30 degrees Celsius or 27 degrees Celsius for those doing strenuous work, beyond which employers would have a statutory duty to introduce effective control measures."
The EDM has cross party support, as it’s sponsored by a Labour MP, a Conservative MP, and SDLP and DUP MPs.
http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2016-17/344
I am emailing you via a Care2 petition. Please let me know when you have signed the EDM and if you decide not to do so, please let me know why.
[Your Comment]
Regards,
[Your name and address]
