With an amber weather warning in place for today across most of Wales, the Midlands, the East of England, the south east and parts of the south west, going up to a red weather warning tomorrow and Thursday, when is it too hot to work?
The Met Office said the heat will build further today, with highs of 37°C forecast for southern England and 35°C in southeast Wales. The peak of the heatwave is now forecast for Wednesday and Thursday, when temperatures are expected to climb to at least 39°C and there remains a chance of this being exceeded in places.
Paraic O’Lochlainn, VP of eMaint, a Fluke Brand, said: “As pressure mounts on the UK government to introduce a legal maximum working temperature, the debate is exposing a much bigger issue: Britain lacks the workforce needed to adapt its buildings to a hotter climate.
“With record-breaking temperatures in both May and June making working conditions more challenging, heat can no longer be treated as a seasonal inconvenience. Recognising it as a workplace health and safety risk would require major investment in cooling technologies, ventilation systems and building upgrades across the country.
“But a mass rollout of cooling infrastructure would be no small feat. Manufacturers, installers and service providers would need to rapidly expand their capacity to design, test, install and maintain these systems.
“If the UK is serious about protecting workers from extreme heat, it must also get serious about building the workforce that will deliver that protection. That means upskilling existing workers and bringing more apprentices and early-career engineers into the sector.
“As AI reshapes many office-based roles, the trades offer careers built around real-world problems that cannot be automated away. Rising heat is one of those challenges – and there is no better time to build a workforce capable of meeting it head on.”
Will White, Senior Product Manager at Fluke Corporation, said: “Grid outages are becoming more common and increasingly due to extreme weather events caused by climate change and underinvestment in grid infrastructure in some regions.
“Data shows us that extreme weather isn’t slowing down; over a 20-year period, over 4,600 occurrences of climate-related disasters were recorded, affecting over 3.3 billion people globally, particularly in Eastern North America and Southeast Asia, regions where grid infrastructure limitations are accompanied with decreasing implied emissions.
“The use of distributed energy resources, like solar and battery energy storage, can supply needed energy resilience. In regions with unstable grids like Puerto Rico, almost every solar installation includes batteries that provide power when the grid is unavailable. Home systems like these, along with microgrids for larger facilities, offer peace of mind in a time when utility grids are becoming more unreliable.”
Chloe Grant, an Associate who specialises in all aspects of UK employment law at Bellevue Law, said: “At what point is it simply too hot to work? UK law doesn’t set a maximum workplace temperature, but employers must provide a working environment that’s safe and without risk to health. Very high temperatures can affect people’s ability to work safely and effectively, and employers need to be ready to respond when the mercury rises.
“The most effective responses are often those grounded in common sense. Practical steps like adjusting start and finish times, relaxing dress codes, investing in air conditioning facilities and/or enabling remote working where possible may help to ease the immediate impact. Just as important is giving managers sufficient discretion to respond sensibly to local conditions and individual circumstances. And an ice cream for the team is never a bad thing for morale!
“Employers can’t help the weather, of course, and employees are likely to understand operational constraints; but they will also notice when businesses are slow to respond or overly rigid. Even small, proportionate adjustments can go a long way in maintaining engagement and signalling that wellbeing is being taken seriously.
“This is also a glimpse of what is to come. Periods of extreme heat are becoming part of the UK’s working reality rather than an occasional disruption. Employers who continue to treat heatwaves as exceptional may find themselves repeatedly on the back foot, while those who build flexibility into their approach should be better placed to support their people and sustain performance.”
