What's the legal minimum temperature for working in a warehouse?
There’s the ever and ongoing argument between employers and employees of what’s the legal or ‘allowed’ temperature to be working in. Arguments aside, it’s an employer’s job to ensure that their employees are working in a comfortable setting and it is essential that companies comply by health and safety regulations to ensure everyone in the workplace is protected and safe.
It is said in the Government’s Health and Safety Regulations that the temperature must be ‘reasonable at all times' (*1.) In their joint accompanying code of practice, it states that the temperature of the workplace should be a minimum of 16 degrees Celsius unless there is a lot of physical activity. In this case, the temperature can go right down to 13 degrees. Despite these loose guidelines, there is some consideration for the fact that the nature within the workplace may change considerably if we take into account the individual environments of these places. With this in mind, it’s even harder to set a single legal temperature and then apply it to work spaces as a whole.
Arguably, these ‘guidelines’ are just that, ‘guidelines’. The 13 degrees is not set in stone. Therefore, if you work in a warehouse where yourself or fellow colleagues does a lot of physical activity but still feel the temperature isn’t acceptable, then you are well within your right to ask for this to be changed. For example, if the temperature is considerably less than the 13 degrees, you will have a high chance of this being increased for your safety and comfort.
At the end of the day, your health and safety comes first and foremost and that’s why the ‘Health and Safety Regulations’ are in place. If you believe that your work conditions are unsafe, breach your rights or make you considerably uncomfortable then you can refuse to do any work. Furthermore, without being told that you are in the wrong. You can make an official complaint through your safety executive or trade union representative and if further action is needed, then there is nothing stopping you reporting this event to the health and safety executive. They make sure that employees, people like YOU are looked after correctly and make sure that your working conditions make you feel comfortable and most importantly, safe.
*1 - Government’s Health and Safety Regulations (http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1974/37/contents)