UK workers push for maximum workplace temperature laws as heatwaves intensify

In the sweltering kitchen of the Plimsoll pub in north London, the head chef, Joshua Swinney, has a frozen tea towel wrapped around his neck to combat the heat.

As temperatures exceeded 35C (95F) in the capital, workers who were not lucky enough to be in air-conditioned offices sweltered in the heat.

To cope, Swinney said the pub tried to put more dishes on the menu that did not require ovens or stoves. That is tricky, however, when it is most famed for its cheeseburger, the making of which entails standing over a grill.

“Suddenly you realise you have seven salads on and can’t get enough raw fish dishes in there,” he said. “As for the heat itself, fans help, but mostly just blow the hot air around, and you can’t have them in the service kitchen.” He said kitchen staff had been known to keep cool a number of ways: “I’ve even seen someone take an ice bath in a flexi bucket.”

Swinney is just about managing, but bakers, construction workers, bus drivers, paramedics and teachers all say heatwaves are becoming incredibly dangerous for them. A campaign for a maximum working temperature, to bring England into line with other European countries, is gathering pace.

Spain is the gold standard: the maximum working temperatures for sedentary work, such as office work, is 27C, while for light physical work it is 25C. In Belgium, it is 29C for light physical work, 26C for a moderately heavy physical work, 22C for heavy physical work and 18C for very heavy physical work.

Kenny Dinsdale, a construction worker, said there was a risk to life from working in extreme heat. “If you’re not careful, you run the risk of significant injury, either through dehydration or through heat stroke or, you know, the ultimate thing is death.”

He said the demographics of the construction industry meant workers like him were particularly at risk. “We’re an older workforce. I’m 65 years of age coming up this birthday, I’m still working in the industry.” He suggested construction should adopt more “Mediterranean-style hours” to avoid the heat of the day.

Bakers, with their large, hot ovens, often working in small unventilated spaces, were also struggling. Sarah Woolley, the chair of the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers’ Union, said: “As it heats up outside, an already hot workplace with ovens and provers is going to get hotter still.” Her union has been calling for a maximum working temperature for a decade.

She said that rather than just putting regular fans in their bakeries, some employers had implemented extra measures, such as relaxing the uniform guidance without impacting food safety standards, providing cold water and offering additional breaks. “But others, where we haven’t got [union] recognition, stay open and expect workers to continue as normal. Some employers have provided isotonic drinks rather than just ice pops, reduced lines running, and instructed unnecessary equipment, like hot holds, to be turned off rather than adding to the heat.”

It is difficult for essential workers, such as paramedics, to stop working in intense heat, but they are asking to be allowed to shed their sweltering uniforms when temperatures reach a certain level.

An ambulance medical technician in Birmingham said: “Working in the heat has been awful. It’s vile. It’s also ridiculously busy when it’s hot. We have one uniform, whether it’s -10C or 30C. You’re sweating even when you’re just driving. I could have cried during my last shift. I often think: ‘I can’t do this again’.

A London paramedic said of his uniform: “I love the good weather, but the minute I put my uniform on, it’s unbearable. I recently had to carry someone down from the seventh floor, and I don’t think I’ve ever sweated that much in my life. I work at capacity, both physically and mentally. The physical demands of working in the heat are extreme.”

Unison’s head of policy, Sampson Low, said: “Paramedics, cleaners and other public sector workers have no choice but to carry on when the mercury rises. Extreme heat not only brings a rise in demand for care but can also affect the health of staff. What’s needed are thresholds based on evidence. This is for jobs where work can’t simply stop when a temperature is reached.”

Bus drivers have been voicing their frustration about the greenhouse-like effect in their cabs, where air conditioning, if it exists, often does not work and temperatures can exceed 40C. Some have recently gone on strike to protest against their conditions.

One London bus driver said: “The buses are at the poorest state ever. The aircon barely works, the heatwave is icing on the cake. I feel we as bus drivers are treated extremely unfairly and we just add up numbers, to the companies we mean nothing.’

Another added: “The buses don’t have AC, they think putting a little fan in the cab helps. It doesn’t. The cab’s temperature is hotter than being outside, it’s ridiculous. Something needs to be done. I have suffered with migraines and when it’s hot they get worse.”

The Trades Union Congress’s health and safety lead, Huma Haq, said: “The experience from other countries is clear: maximum workplace temperatures can work. If they work in Spain, where summers are far hotter than in the UK, they can work here too. Unions are calling for rules that require employers to take action to reduce temperatures when they exceed 24C, and for work to stop when temperatures reach 30C, or 27C for strenuous jobs.

“Unions have been leading this campaign, and right now workers are taking action to keep themselves safe as temperatures climb to extremes again. From bus drivers in north London to front of house at the V&A Museum, workers are using their collective power to bring about the changes needed for cooler and safer workplaces.”