Cold Weather: HSE Guidance

HSE Guidance

The Approved Code of Practice contained within the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations stipulates that for indoor working the minimum temperature should be at least 16°c, or 13°c if much of the work involves “rigorous physical effort”.

HSE guidance states that the following steps can help keep people as comfortable as possible when working in the cold:

• Provide adequate workplace heating, such as portable heaters, to ensure work areas are warm enough when they are occupied
• Design processes that minimise exposure to cold areas and cold products
• Reduce draughts while still keeping adequate ventilation
• Provide insulating floor coverings or special footwear when workers have to stand for long periods on cold floors
• Provide appropriate protective clothing for cold environments

You can also change work systems to limit exposure by introducing systems such as flexible working patterns or job rotation and provide sufficient work breaks to allow workers to get hot drinks or warm up in heated areas.

Workplace temperatures should be monitored, and particular regard should be paid to those employees with medical conditions such as Raynaud’s phenomenon which may be triggered by the cold.  The contents of the risk assessment, including the control measures, should be shared with employees to ensure they have sufficient information and instruction.

The HSE has published additional guidance for those working in very high or low temperatures, for example on heat stress, dehydration or cold stress.

Working from home

Employers’ health and safety duties towards staff equally apply to staff working from home, either partly, under a hybrid model, or where they are entirely home-based.  Employers are required by law to assess risks and do whatever is ‘reasonably practicable’ to safeguard their workers’ health and wellbeing to ensure, so far as possible, a safe working environment including a reasonable temperature in the workplace.  Employers aren’t obliged to pay towards heating bills or provide heaters for the employee’s home, but should suggest alternatives for staff who can’t afford to maintain a safe working temperature, such as coming into the office. Those who are in receipt of certain Government benefits may be eligible to apply for the Cold weather payment, government scheme, where the average temperature in their area is recorded as, or forecast to be, zero degrees celsius or below over seven consecutive days.

Outdoor working

For those working outdoors, employers will need to carry out an adequate risk assessment, to identify the necessary control measures. Control measures may include the provision of personal protective equipment, suitable work breaks, mobile warming rooms and training employees to recognise the early symptoms of cold stress, generally cough or body aches.

Reducing the risk of slip and trip accidents

HSE guidance on reducing the risk of slip and trip accidents, including due to icy conditions, includes:

• Applying grit to areas prone to be slippery.  Rock salt is used by the Highways Agency and is the most commonly used form of “grit,” with salt found to be less effective unless used in its powdered form.
• Covering walkways, or main walkways, if practicable, or using an insulating material in smaller areas overnight.
• Diverting pedestrians to less slippery walkways

As always, first conduct a risk assessment to see what you need to put in place.