Poland’s Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy has prepared a regulation establishing maximum temperatures at which work may be performed. Once the specified limits are exceeded, employers will be required to suspend work temporarily.
Under the proposed rules, work will have to stop when temperatures exceed:
- 35°C indoors,
- 32°C for work performed outdoors.
The regulation also introduces lower temperature thresholds at which employers will be required to implement technical or organisational measures to reduce employees’ exposure to heat.
For indoor work, the threshold will be 25°C for employees performing heavy physical work and 28°C for other workers. For outdoor work, the threshold will be 25°C.
Once these temperatures are reached, employers will be required to take measures such as reducing the temperature at the workstation or changing the organisation of work. Possible solutions include additional breaks, shorter working hours and adjusted schedules designed to limit work during the hottest part of the day.
Existing provisions of Poland’s Labour Code already require employers to protect employees’ health and lives and to provide safe and hygienic working conditions. An employee may stop working or leave the workstation if working conditions pose an immediate threat to their health or life. The employee should first inform their supervisor and retains the right to remuneration for the period during which they refrain from working.
The amended regulation is expected to enter into force six months after its publication. This means that the new rules are due to apply next year.
Labour Minister Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk also asked the Chief Labour Inspector on 23 June to intensify workplace inspections during this year’s heatwaves. The inspections are intended to verify whether employers are complying with their obligations to protect workers from the effects of high temperatures.
According to a United Surveys by IBRiS poll conducted for Wirtualna Polska, 59.2% of respondents support regulations providing for shorter working hours or a day off once a specified temperature is exceeded. A total of 26.6% opposed such measures.
