Climatic changes vs. working conditions: New regulations for employees on hot days

Due to climatic changes, days with temperatures above 30oC are becoming more and more common. Because of the increasing number of hot days, the Polish Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Policy (MRPiPS) has taken measures in order to adjust the regulations concerning working conditions at extreme temperatures. On 10 July, a key meeting was held during which the participants discussed the new guidelines regarding employee safety on hot days. Minister Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk ordered preparing actions aimed at protecting the workers from the effects of high temperatures.

New initiatives and research 

As part of the Governmental Work Safety and Conditions Improvement Programme, the Central Institute for Labor Protection conducts research about the effect of high temperatures on working conditions. The Labor Protection Council also called for taking climatic changes into consideration in regulations in the subject of work safety. The goal is to adjust the regulations to the tendencies of the changing climate.  

Regulations in the European Union and the Polish law 

In the European Union, there are no uniform regulations in the subject of maximum temperatures in the workplace. However, the European Union Trade Confederation calls for the introduction of such regulations. Some member states, such as Slovenia, already have their own regulations on work in high temperatures.  

Poland has introduced ordinances which regulate the basic rules of providing employees with proper conditions on hot days. Employers must, among others, provide drinks in conditions of a hot micro-climate with a temperature above 25oC, install equipment to eliminate excessive sun rays falling on work stands as well as ensure air-conditioned rooms where employees who carry out works in rooms with temperatures exceeding 30oC due to technological processes can rest.  

Works over the new regulations 

Despite of the existing regulations in the subject of work safety in high temperatures, new rules are being developed with the objective to precisely determine the requirements in the scope of protection of workers from heat. The new OH&S regulations are supposed to improve safety in extreme weather conditions, which is of key importance for the employees’ health.  

Preparing for the legislative changes 

Protection of employees from the heat is a key problem in the context of the changing climatic conditions. The planned OH&S regulations are aimed at ensuring safe working conditions in high temperature, which is crucial to protect the employees’ health. That is why one should make preparations for the upcoming legislative changes.  

Author: Patrycja Król,  HR and Payroll Specialist at the MDDP Outsourcing Office in Katowice 

Sources: 

• Ordinance of the Minister of Labor and Social Policy of 26 September 1997 on general occupational health and safety regulations (Polish Journal of Laws of 2003, No. 169, item 1650, with further amendments),   

• Ordinance of the Minister of Family, Labor and Social Policy of 12 June 2018 on the highest permissible concentration and intensities of factors harmful to health in the work environment (Polish Journal of Laws, item 1286, with further amendments), 

• Ordinance of the Council of Ministers of 28 May 1996 on preventive meals and drinks (Polish Journal of Laws, No. 60, item 279, with further amendments),  

• Ordinance of the Minister of Health of 2 February 2011 on tests and measurements of factors harmful to health in the work environment (Polish Journal of Laws of 2023, item 419)