Guidance for workers and union officials
Being exposed to cold temperatures for a long time at work can harm your health and safety. Your employer must manage the risks from cold working conditions
Cold working conditions, especially outdoors, can increase the risk of accidents and injuries. Cold can affect how well people think and move, which may cause fatigue or slower reaction times
Low temperatures are not limited to outdoor work. A cold environment is one that can result in significant heat loss from the body. Ideally you should be able to maintain your core body temperature comfortably.
If temperatures at your work are creating a serious and immediate risk to your safety - you have a legal right to stop work..
If you stop work, let your health and safety rep, manager and union rep know.
What the law says
Our laws do not state a minimum or maximum safe temperature for work, this is because other factors such as wind chill, moisture, clothing, and physical activity can all influence how the cold can affect someone.
The effects of cold temperatures will vary depending on factors from person to person.
However, PCBUs (a Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking - generally your employer) must make sure, so far as reasonably practicable, that workers' health and safety is not put at risk, this includes hazards from the cold in the workplace.
They also have a duty to ensure that there are adequate facilities for welfare at work.
This means that the risks to health and safety from cold temperatures in the workplace must be eliminated or otherwise minimised so far as is reasonably practicable (as with any other risks to health and safety).
Impacts of cold at work
- Physiological response impairing function
- Itching, tingling and pain on fingers, toes, ears, cheeks or other extremities.
- Numbness
- Hypothermia
If you or your colleagues experience any of these, lodge this through your H&S reporting mechanisms, also inform management, your HSR and union rep.
Work factors that raise the risk of heat-related hazards
- Wind speed
- Humidity and moisture
- Clothing that is too light or gets wet
- Sweating from physical activity
- Sedentary work limiting internal heat generation
- Duration of exposure
What do employers need to do?
Engage with workers
PCBUs must engage with workers and their unions to assess the risks of working in cold temperatures, and when deciding on how to manage identified risks.
Assess the risk of high temperatures in the workplace
This can be as simple as identifying the risks arising from the environment and work activities, then considering how likely harm is and how serious it could be.
Have ways for workers to report hazardous working conditions due to cold temperatures
To ensure that issues are reported and can be managed.
Manage the risk
Where risks are identified, or reported, the PCBU must manage them appropriately.
Eliminating the source of cold or removing the need to work in the cold environment are the best first options. Where neither is possible, employers should use a range of control measures to reduce the risk as so far as reasonably practicable.
This might include:
- Limiting or postponing work in very cold conditions
- Modifying work schedules to limit exposure to coldest temperatures
- Allowing for more breaks over winter/ cold periods
- Ensuring breaks can be taken in warm places
- Allowing staff to be more flexible in their working arrangements, implement flexible working arrangements and enable workers to self-pace their work.
- Temperature controlling the workplace by reducing draughts and controlling humidity for indoor work or providing shelter from sources of cold (such as wind and rain) for outdoor work.
- Ensuring clothing, and available PPE is fit for purpose and is kept as dry as possible.
Remember the hierarchy of controls and utilise stronger controls
Links and resources:
- WorkSafe further guidance
- Overseas resources (note: the health and safety laws these resources refer to might differ from New Zealand's):
- OSHWiki: Working in the cold (European Union)
- HSE: Temperature in the workplace (United Kingdom)
