Cold weather working and snow days: the legal position

In its latest advice, the Met Office has forecast near frozen temperatures and increased rainfall for much of the UK over the remainder of January. With the usual hazards of ice and snowfall, we look at what employers need to do.

Cold weather working

At the end of November, the Health and Safety Executive released a statement reminding employers to “take a sensible approach during the cold weather” and “make appropriate accommodations for their staff”. HSE also reminded employers of their legal obligation to provide a “reasonable” temperature in the workplace that aligns with the nature of work and environmental conditions.

Employers also have a statutory duty to carry out a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to their employees’ health while at work, and to take all reasonably practicable steps to minimise those risks. Employers are well advised to listen to any complaints about uncomfortable temperatures and reassess the risks if appropriate.

Is there a minimum acceptable temperature?

A common question employers consider is whether employees can legitimately pack up and go home if the mercury drops below a certain level. For indoor working, HSE’s Approved Code of Practice states that the minimum indoor temperatures should be either:

• 16°C or
• 13°C (if much of the work involves rigorous physical effort).

These temperatures do not apply where it would be impractical, for example, the room being open to the outside or for food storage reasons but should be as close as possible. Although the Code is not compulsory, any failure to follow it will result in evidence of fault in a prosecution unless the law has been complied with in some other way.

Should the office thermometer drop below 16°C, this is not a carte blanche for employees to walk out. But employers would be well advised to pay attention to the thermostat as adhering to these guidelines would be relevant to an employer’s compliance with their duty of care to staff.

For those working outdoors whilst there is no recommended minimum temperature, there are greater risks to health if proper provisions are not provided. Employers have a responsibility to reasonably protect employees from the risks of adverse weather. It’s therefore important to ensure:

• Staff have the correct and appropriate personal protective equipment for working in colder temperatures.
• There are facilities for warming up (such as soup or hot drinks).
• Staff have sufficient rest breaks in a warmer environment.

You may also need to consider delaying work in particularly adverse conditions.

Other workplace issues

With the temperature dropping outside, employees will be cranking up the thermostat indoors. At a basic level, employers should ensure that their heating systems are well maintained by professionals and effective.

Many will be familiar with the chaos that is caused by water pipes freezing overnight. This is a particular issue for workplaces given that handwashing facilities, toilets and drinking water are all likely to be affected. If a workplace is not able to provide these, staff may well need to be sent home.

And turning to home workers, should employers be thinking about how warm an employee’s home working environment is? Of course, employers do have health & safety responsibilities for people working at home and should have risk assessments in place. However, the HSE guidance does not mention anything about temperatures in home working environments, only referring to “healthy and safe environments”.

Whilst it is uncommon in the UK for an employer to contribute or subsidise the cost of an employee’s heating, employees may be eligible to claim tax relief for additional household costs if their employer does not have an office or their job requires them to live far away from their office.

Snow days

With some parts of the country currently under a thick covering of snow, what is the position if an employee is unable to make it into the office? Although the rise of hybrid working will overcome this challenge in many cases, this is of course not always an option. The legal position is that, unless covered in an employment contract, employees have no right to be paid if they are unable to work due to the weather. The exception to this if an employer decides to close the workplace due to health and safety issues (such as frozen pipes) or the weather. In such cases, an employee would usually be entitled to their normal pay.

Schools are often closed following snowfall which often impacts an employee’s ability to work – while children might love a snow day, it poses difficulties for working parents. In terms of legal entitlements, employees have the right to time off for dependants to deal with an emergency such as an unexpected school closure. There is no right to be paid for this, although some employers have a policy of doing so.

It is recommended that employers have a policy in place covering what will happen in the event of an adverse weather event or significant travel disruption. The policy should set out expectations regarding who employees should contact if they won’t be able to attend work, the pay position and alternative working arrangements. Whilst employees should make a genuine effort to attend work, Acas recommends that employers should not encourage staff to travel when it is not safe.

Other practical considerations

It isn’t just health and safety that employers need to think about during cold weather spells. Employers should also consider the following:

• Environmental impact

Colder weather unavoidably increases our energy usage and environmental impact and at a time when many businesses are under pressure to consider their carbon footprint and focus on ESG issues. With many employees working remotely, many more homes will have the heating on during the working day, leading to a much greater overall energy consumption. Employers could consider reminding staff that they are able to attend the office where the heating will be on.

• Staff morale and productivity

HSE note that maintaining reasonable working temperatures will likely uphold higher morale and productivity for staff. Uncomfortable temperatures can lead to dissatisfaction with a workplace and slower output - there’s nothing that Brits like more than talking about the weather! Studies suggest that the exact temperature to maximise creativity and productivity should be 21 degrees Celsius.

• Well-being

The cold weather will also bring many practical difficulties for employees. With the cost-of-living crisis continuing to impact many, some employees may struggle to heat their homes or have increased caring responsibilities for elderly dependants.