Occupational health and safety provides for such measures from as little as 26 degrees.
(Photo: dpa)
Dusseldorf A heat wave is rolling towards Germany. Meteorologists predict temperatures of up to 45 degrees. Pupils are already looking forward to “Heat Free”. But what about employees who sweat in the office or on the factory floor? Are they also allowed to stop work for hours or days? And what about the large number of employees working from home? Does the employer have to give them air conditioning for the office under the roof?
“Anyone who gets too hot must not go home on their own, stop work or take technical precautions at the boss’s expense without prior consultation,” says Tobias Brors, a specialist lawyer for labor law in Düsseldorf. If you don’t work when you have to, you are in breach of your duty and risk a warning.
Employees can now expect that from their employers
In general, the air temperature in work rooms should not exceed 26 degrees Celsius. Unless the outside temperature is higher – then an upper limit of 35 degrees applies in rooms. This was specified by the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAUA) in the guidelines for workplaces.
The BAUA recommends installing fans and cooling devices at temperatures above 26 degrees. Relaxing the dress code should be a matter of course – the tie stays in the closet.
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Above 30 degrees, the boss must prevent the rooms from heating up further and provide his employees with cooling. For example, with blinds on the windows that protect against direct sunlight. Printers and copiers are then only put into operation when absolutely necessary. In addition, employers should provide free cold water or iced tea for their employees.
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Of course, flextime regulations can also be used in a special way: It is possible to shift working hours to the cool morning or evening hours or to take additional breaks and also to reduce the work intensity.
Only if employers do nothing or not enough to remedy the situation when requested to do so when it is more than 30 degrees at the workplace, or if the thermometer at the workplace shows 36 degrees, can employees refuse to work in individual cases – without fear of sanctions or loss of salary to have to.
But what does the home office actually look like?
In fact, bosses only very rarely prescribe so-called teleworking, for which they have set up a fully-fledged, permanently installed computer workstation for their employees at home. And the employers then have to comply with the same regulations in terms of occupational health and safety as the employees in the office.
In fact, most employers allow “mobile working”. “A small but subtle difference,” says lawyer Brors. After all, mobile workers could simply look for a place to work with their notebook that is comfortable – whether in a cool basement or in an air-conditioned bistro.
Regardless of whether you are a “teleworker” or a “mobile worker” – if you have the alternative of commuting to the air-conditioned office at the company headquarters to work there, you have to do that before you can say “free of heat” for him or her.
More: Heat researchers warn: Summer becomes a health hazard