---

Workplace Temperatures

It is interesting to note that a minimum temperature is set. When I first left school, I worked for Birds Eye on the hamburger line—I have not eaten one since. In those cold conditions, action was taken if the temperature fell, cladding was given and people were taken out of those conditions to enable them to warm themselves. It is about ensuring an appropriate trigger mechanism that protects workers and employers and makes clear what action should be taken and at what level. We do not have that for maximum temperatures. I have touched on the wider health impacts, but it is worth trying to get something more on the record. The effects of heat were not sufficiently acknowledged in previous debates on the matter, nor by the Health and Safety Executive. The effects include fatigue, extra strain on the heart and lungs, and the dizziness, fainting and heat cramps due to loss of water and salt that I mentioned earlier. Hot, dry air also increases the risk of eye and throat infections and breathing problems such as asthma and rhinitis. Even what we would call medium temperatures can lead, as we know in this place, to loss of concentration and increased tiredness, which means that workers may be at greater risk. Those indirect effects can lead to an increased likelihood of accidents, as can slippery, sweaty palms; and they also lead to an increase in discomfort. Those are the effects that have been recorded. We have an increased understanding of those effects in the short term, but insufficient research has been undertaken into the long-term effects of working in a hot environment and the daily exposure to high temperatures. One plea that I make is for the Government to give the HSE some direction in order to ensure a much greater element of research into the long-term effects of working in hot conditions.