As temperatures rise to some of the highest on record, HR professionals feel that an upward legal limit on indoor working temperatures should be added to the statute books along with the current legal minimum of 16 degrees centigrade, suggests a new poll.
With responses from 230 visitors to the HR Gateway HR news website, the poll suggests that nearly three-quarters (73%) of visitors thought that an upward limit should be applied, while a quarter (25%) said that it depended on the job - two per cent thought that there should not be a limit.
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) welcomed the findings as further support for the need for an upper heat limit in workplaces: ''Too much heat can cause fatigue, extra strain on the heart and lungs, dizziness and fainting, or heat cramps due to loss of water and salt. Workers, whose exposure to heat cannot be reduced, should be provided with adequate breaks and offered job rotation,í it said today.
While the TUC are calling for a cut off level of 30 degrees centigrade, or 27 degrees for those employed in strenuous work, Vanessa Stebbings of HR Gateway Consulting said that there are things that employers can do to make the heat more bearable for employees and so avoid unnecessary absences:
''Whilst British legislation does not set a maximum working temperature, the World Health Organisation recommends a maximum air temperature of 75F/24C for workers to work comfortably. Inadequate facilities to maintain comfortable environment in the hot weather can lead to a range of problems including dehydration caused by loss of fluids due to perspiration which gives rise to cramp, headache and fatigue,íshe said.
HR joins unions in looking for maximum workplace heat limit
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