UK Health and Safety Executive urges employers to adapt to warming climate

The UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has called on employers to provide normal working conditions for their employees, taking into account the experience gained during the past hot summer, when the air temperature in some parts of the country reached 40°C.
According to this government agency, working in conditions of extreme summer heat should now be part of the long-term planning in companies operating in the UK. This is something all businesses will need to consider as hotter weather becomes more frequent, said the article published on the agency's website.
“Employers have a legal obligation under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations to assess risks to the health and safety of workers. They must review the risk controls they have in place and update them if needed. This includes risks from more frequent extreme weather such as heatwaves,” the HSE emphasized noting that heat is classed as a hazard and comes with legal obligations like any other hazard.
“We expect employers to take this recent weather event as the prompt to review how they assess the risk of high temperatures in their workplace and identify now those changes that will future proof them,” said John Roe, HSE Acting Head of Operations Strategy adding that the recent heat wave will not stop and "we want employers to plan and respond to this now."

Vladimir Malakhov, Rough&Polished