This advice is designed to support NEU reps – both workplace, health and safety and green reps – to negotiate changes to working conditions to keep staff and students safe during very hot weather.
Climate change is resulting in more frequent periods of very hot weather, but successive governments have failed to invest in the UK’s school estate to ensure that buildings provide safe environments for learning to take place.
Our Save Education Campaign is pushing for long-term investment in education, which would include retrofitting our ageing school estates with proper ventilation, shading, and climate-resilient cooling infrastructure.
Workplace temperatures - employers’ legal obligations
Shamefully, there is no legal maximum temperature for workplaces in UK law.
However, the lack of a legal maximum temperature does not mean that employers are free from any legal obligation. The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 state that temperatures in workplaces should be ‘reasonable’, and the HSE Approved Code of Practice on those regulations provides further guidance on workplace temperature, as does the HSE’s own website. The HSE expressly recognises high heat as a health and safety hazard which employers should treat as such.
The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 place an obligation on employers to assess risks to health and safety and take action to minimise those risks as far as reasonably practicable.
The Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 underlies all health and safety legal protections, and requires employers to ensure the health, safety and welfare of their staff and others present in the workplace, for example, pupils, thereby providing a need to seek to protect against excessive working temperatures.
The NEU believes that, because of the nature of the way in which education staff work, and the presence of children, a maximum indoor working temperature of 26 °C is appropriate.
How to secure a safe working and learning environment as NEU rep
In practical terms, but also given the legal obligations owed by employers, expecting schools to carry on as normal when temperatures are very high is unreasonable, especially given the risks to educator and pupil health and safety.
Schools should take appropriate measures to enable education to continue as long as the school environment remains safe.
Where school closure is being considered, schools should prioritise being open for vulnerable pupils. Reps and members should seek to work with management to provide appropriate provision for these pupils if it is safe to do so.
As a rep, you can make a massive difference by coordinating and channelling member concerns into an organised response during periods of very hot weather and pushing for long-term changes.
You can also help gather evidence from members and make sure management understands how hot weather can affect different parts of the school differently.
Conditions can vary hugely between different classrooms, workspaces, kitchens and outdoor play areas so speaking to members helps build an accurate picture of the risks and the changes needed.
During the day, you should:
- Walk around the school to speak to staff and inspect the buildings. You are entitled to request paid time off to carry out this inspection.
- Assess the risks from heat, temperature, ventilation, workload, and check vulnerable staff and pupils.
- Identify who may be most at risk (see below).
Workplace reps and health and safety reps should follow the bargaining cycle to identify issues, agree positions with members, raise concerns with management and escalate if necessary.
Communication with members
During periods of very hot weather, consider holding emergency workplace meetings either at the start or during the school day. It may be appropriate to hold a virtual or hybrid meeting.
Seek to communicate regularly with members during the day, gathering evidence and feedback on the impact of the high temperatures, what measures, if any, the school is taking to mitigate them and whether these are effective.
Collectively agree on priorities and decide on the next steps. If concerns remain unresolved, discuss and agree as a group how to escalate the issue, ensuring that any action taken is supported by members and based on a clear assessment of the risks.
Importance of a risk assessment
Decisions about what should happen in individual schools should be based on a risk assessment undertaken by management, in consultation with union reps.
Individual risk assessments must also be in place for those who are more vulnerable to the heat because of a medical condition, pregnancy, perimenopause and menopause.
Pregnant staff may be at particular risk in extreme temperatures. Even where an individual risk assessment has been carried out for a pregnant member of staff, this should be reviewed in light of new and emerging risks such as a heatwave. You can find more information about carrying out a pregnancy risk assessment
Disabled workers may also be at greater risk during very hot weather. Certain impairments and disabilities are disproportionately affected by extreme heat and some medications can have side effects in these conditions.
Individual risk assessments should be carried out for these workers and reasonable adjustments made to enable safe working.
The same applies to disabled and SEN students. For example, autistic students can struggle to regulate in the heat due to altered thermoregulation. Sensory issues can also be amplified leading to increased risk of meltdowns and dysregulation.
Joint union heatwave protocol
All education unions, including those representing school leaders, are signed up to the Joint Union Heatwave Protocol. This states that where a red alert is issued for extreme heat, school and college employers must ensure that an immediate, additional risk assessment is carried out and the control measures indicated are enacted, which could include full or partial closure of the site, if the risk assessment deems this necessary.
The risk assessment must also take account of travel to and from the site for learners and staff, and the potential for disruption to public transport systems later in the day.
Clarification on use of section 44
During periods of very hot weather, members may ask for advice in relation to their rights under section 44 of the Employment Rights Act 1996.
This is an individual right that protects employees from detriment or dismissal if they leave or refuse to return to a place of work because they reasonably believe there is a serious and imminent danger to their health and safety.
It is possible that high temperatures could reasonably be seen as a “serious and imminent danger”, however it will always depend on individual circumstances, and it is not the case that high temperatures can be treated automatically in all instances as a serious and imminent danger.
It is also important to underline that section 44 only protects individuals and it is not a trade union protection, nor does it allow a trade union to induce, advise or encourage members to rely on section 44.
Always consult with your NEU branch secretary before issuing any advice to members in relation to section 44.
Monitoring temperatures and their impact on staff and students
The 1992 Workplace Regulations require that a sufficient number of thermometers should be available, at a convenient distance from any part of the workplace, to enable temperatures to be measured in any part of the workplace. They do not require a thermometer to be provided in every room. Alcohol, liquid crystal strips and digital thermometers can lose accuracy over time and should be used as a general guide.
Temperature readings should be taken in a range of classrooms and workspaces, using the school’s official thermometer where available. Where temperatures are not being monitored by the school, or where monitoring arrangements are inadequate, reps and members should take their own readings and record them, including photographic evidence where possible.
Conditions can differ significantly between buildings, floors and individual rooms, making it essential to gather evidence from across the workplace. It is not reasonable for an employer to claim that temperatures are acceptable if they are not monitoring them or if they are relying on readings from only a limited number of locations.
In addition, encourage members to record the impact of hot weather and raise any concerns they have, including taking photographs of temperature readings where possible. This can provide valuable evidence of conditions across the workplace and help ensure that management is fully aware of the risks, particularly where staff or pupils experience heat-related illness or other adverse effects.
Pushing for short-term measures
Reps should press for the simple, practical measures contained within the joint union protocol to be adopted to mitigate the impact of the heat.
Key points include:
- No vigorous physical activity for staff or students
- Ready supply of drinking water for all
- Relaxation of dress and uniform codes
- Relocating classes to cooler areas of the school where possible
- Curtailing of heat-generating activities so far as possible, for example use of Bunsen burners and ovens.
- Blinds and curtains closed during the day
Schools remaining open should also consider relaxing the timetable.
Measures that could make a real difference include: adjusting finish times, flexibility around what is taught, postponing learning walks and observations, extending breaks to keep everyone hydrated and cancelling after school staff meetings.
Longer-term changes
There may be a need for more significant and longer-term changes to school policies and protocols that reflect the members’ concerns and experiences of working during periods of very hot weather.
The short-term planning measures outlined in the joint union advice on heatwaves can be used as a model for policies and protocols.
The joint union agreement also sets out longer-term measures including:
- Development of shaded areas
- Reviewing ventilation across the premises, including in kitchens
- Checking that windows can be safely opened and ensuring that they are opened appropriately
- Planning for which parts of the building may be unusable in extreme high temperatures (based on experience of previous heatwaves)
Members should also seek agreements on a maximum classroom temperature, in line with the NEU’s recommended limit of 26 °C. Such agreements should include clear protocols for relocating staff and pupils to cooler rooms or alternative settings, including outdoor spaces where appropriate, when temperatures exceed this level.
Ultimately, we need more funding for schools. Without this, high temperatures will continue to be a problem. Think about how the momentum and strength of feeling generated on this issue can help build the NEU’s Save Education campaign and ensure schools are safe places to work and learn in in all temperatures.