Staying cool guide: hot weather workwear (inside)

Feeling hot, hot, hot? You can bet your workers are too. But are they suffering in the heat or do they know how to keep themselves safe as the temperatures soar? Find out what you can do to help with our guide to keeping cool at work.

Staying safe in the heat: An employer’s guide

Employers have a duty of care to do whatever they can to protect their workers against workplace hazards, and this includes extremes of temperature.

The hot summer months can make offices and warehouses stifling and turn outdoor working sticky and unpleasant. But having the right tools and procedures in place can help everyone stay comfortable and productive at work.

Is it too hot to work?

There is no law that says what temperature is ‘too hot to work’. This is because some job roles by the nature of the work require people to be in high temperatures all year round.

However, heat is classified as a workplace hazard, and so heatwaves (just like wet and freezing weather) should be covered in your workplace risk assessment and the appropriate controls put in place to manage the risks.

Keeping cool: our guide

In practice, keeping cool in hot weather requires attention to the basics. Make sure you’ve got everything covered with our checklist below:

Indoor working:
Is the air temperature at a comfortable level?

• Where installed, ensure air cooling or air conditioning systems are working properly and your employees know how to use them
• Where air cooling systems are not installed, make sure windows can be easily opened to allow for air flow around the building
• Do windows have adequate blinds and/or reflective film installed to shade workers from direct sunlight?
• All employees should have free, easy access to cool drinking water to avoid the risk of dehydration

Additional temporary accommodations that may need to be made include:

• Providing extra desktop and pedestal fans to offer a cooling effect
• Repositioning work stations away from direct sunlight or sources of heat

Outdoor working:

• Can you provide shading to work areas?
• If not, are you providing a shaded rest area and allowing your workers plenty of breaks to cool down?
• Does everyone have free, easy access to cool drinking water to keep hydrated?
• Do your teams know how to spot the signs of heat exhaustion and heat stroke, and what to do if they suspect they or someone around them is affected?
  
  

General tips for safe working in the heat

• Can you relax your formal dress code to allow employees to choose clothing that may be cooler in the heat? Remember that personal protective equipment (PPE) should never be optional.
• Are you allowing your workers sufficient breaks to move to cooler parts of the building and get cold drinks
• Can you introduce flexible working patterns? Examples include accommodating slower work rates, rotating staff more frequently, allowing longer recovery times and scheduling work to a cooler time of day.
  
  

PPE and hot weather

Where your workers must wear items of PPE such as hi vis vests, safety gloves and in some cases goggles or helmets, it is important that these items are worn at all times, no matter the weather conditions. However, PPE that is heavy or awkward to wear can reduce the body’s ability to evaporate sweat, leading to an increase in body temperature and raising the risk of heat stress in hot weather.

If your PPE is causing issues in the summer months, ask your workwear and PPE supplier if there are more lightweight and breathable alternatives that you could provide to your employees instead. Developments in materials technology mean better PPE is being produced all the time, so if it’s been a few years since you’ve evaluated your PPE provision, it might be time to think about a review.

Keeping cool: The dangers of overheating

If someone does get too hot at work, it’s important to know what to do to help. There are two conditions to watch out for: heat exhaustion and heatstroke.

Heat exhaustion is not usually serious as long as prompt action is taken to help the affected person cool down, but heatstroke is a medical emergency that requires immediate treatment. Both can affect anyone, even the fit and healthy.

Signs of heat exhaustion include excessive sweating and a general feeling of being hot and unwell. Some people may experience a headache, dizziness and confusion, cramps, nausea, a loss of appetite, or extreme thirst. Someone with heat exhaustion may breathe faster than usual and will have an elevated pulse.

If you suspect someone has heat exhaustion, get them to rest in a cool place and drink water or rehydration drinks. Remove unnecessary clothing, cool their skin with water and fan them. They should start to cool down and feel better within 30 minutes.

If they don’t, they may have heatstroke and you should call 999 immediately for urgent medical help.

The NHS website has more information on the symptoms of heat exhaustion and heatstroke: Check out their guidance here.

For more advice on keeping your teams safe in hot weather, including the best PPE for the summer months, give our team a call – we’ll be happy to help.