Setting maximum temperature rules for workplaces is “essential”, unions have said as the Government is urged to take action to protect the UK from climate impacts.
The advisory Climate Change Committee has called for a raft of measures to protect Britons against worsening heat, floods and droughts, including maximum temperature regulations to protect workers and air conditioning in hospitals, care homes, schools and homes of vulnerable people.
The committee is also calling for more investment in flood defences, water efficiency measures, support for farmers and protection of nature against climate impacts which it warns put the British way of life at risk.
Unions have backed the call for a workplace temperature maximum, with the GMB describing it as making “no sense whatsoever” that there is a minimum temperature standard but not a legal heat limit.
Credit: istock
Lib Whitfield, GMB senior organiser, said the union had long campaigned for a maximum heat limit of 25C.
“Sweltering heat is loads of fun if you’re swanning around by the pool – but if you’ve got a job to do it can be downright dangerous,” she said.
“Bosses need to do everything possible to keep workplaces cool, and more importantly, safe.”
Unison assistant general secretary Jon Richards said setting a maximum temperature for workplaces “is essential”, as climate change means staff are ever more likely to face fluctuating conditions.
“Being too hot at work puts people’s health at risk and leads to poorer performance and lower productivity,” he said.
“Any decent employer would want their staff to be at their best to do their job efficiently. After all, everyone works best at a comfortable temperature.”
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Unite national health and safety officer Rob Miguel said the recommendations are “very welcome” but did not go far enough, with some types of work – such as people in PPE – requiring lower temperatures to be incorporated, and said laws must include those working outside.
He said: “We expect if introduced that any new laws must be fully enforced with meaningful penalties for those breaking the law.
“Workers must be easily able to report bad employers for breaking the law, without fear of retribution.”
Ruth Wilkinson, head of policy and public affairs at the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health, said climate impacts are already affecting all workers.
She called for climate-related risks to be included in labour and health and safety laws, for businesses to include risks in their internal processes and training and awareness for all workers.
Sam Alvis, associate director at think tank IPPR, warned that impacts today are making it harder for governments to improve lives – while populists exploit the anger to further their own agendas and undermine climate action more broadly.
“Extreme heat is affecting children’s exam performance, forcing NHS surgeries to be cancelled, and making it harder for farmers to grow food,” he said.
“It is no surprise that frustration is growing.
“Pairing long-term emissions cuts – such as rolling out solar panels on schools – with immediate adaptation measures, like air conditioning in classrooms, will both protect communities and strengthen public confidence in climate action.”
As well as threatening lives and livelihoods, the Climate Change Committee warns worsening climate extremes is putting many elements of the British way of life at risk – from the gently changing seasons to weekend visits to National Trust venues.
Hilary McGrady, director-general of the National Trust, said: “Climate change is putting our heritage under enormous strain, from fires in the countryside and farmers struggling with drought, to flooding of historic buildings.
“What’s at stake is even greater than the sum of its parts – it’s our shared inheritance.”
But she said the UK had risen to huge societal challenges before and the committee’s report provides a “practical handrail” to do it again, adding: “We owe it to past and future generations to use it.”
Eleanor Johnston, climate change manager at The Wildlife Trusts, said the solution to the escalating impacts of climate change lays with nature.
“A well-managed transition to nature-friendly farming, healthy soils that absorb extreme rainfall, green spaces that cool our towns and cities, and rivers and wetlands that slow and store floodwater are all essential to keeping food on our shelves and helping to protect people, places and wildlife,” she said.
“These nature-based solutions are among the most cost-effective approaches to build resilience to climate change and biodiversity loss, while also providing significant benefits for people’s health, wellbeing and communities – bringing people together in an age of division and challenge.”
She urged the Government to put nature at the heart of climate adaptation, restoring and protecting habitats, investing in nature recovery and ensuring planning decisions work with nature.
Martin Lines, chief executive of the Nature Friendly Farming Network, welcomed the committee’s recognition that radical action is needed to protect food security and insulate shoppers from rocketing prices and shortages.
He said: “We need to be producing as much of the food we can grow here as possible, reducing our dependence on imports from countries even more affected by climate change than the UK.
“Reducing our reliance on fossil fuels and chemical inputs, and working with nature instead, is the route to sustainable harvests and viable farm businesses for the future.”
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