Nadia Whittome
Main Page: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)Department Debates - View all Nadia Whittome's debates with the Cabinet Office
(2 years, 4 months ago)
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Mr Speaker
It might be worth having a helicopter capable of actually reaching the moors with the equipment to put the fires out, which they did not have last time.
Nadia Whittome (Nottingham East) (Lab)
Working in extreme heat can really affect people’s health and can even be fatal. Spain has strict rules on working temperature: a maximum of 27° indoors and 25° when doing physical activity. Even the US guidelines are 24°, yet we have absolutely nothing here. With extreme heat becoming more regular in the UK, will the Government legislate for maximum working temperatures?
Kit Malthouse
As I said, the law, as it stands, says that employers have an obligation to maintain a reasonable temperature at work—[Interruption.] It is not defined because circumstances may change. If someone is working in front of a blast furnace, that is different from working in an office. We may find that for many people during this period, being at work is cooler than being at home. Although I understand the hon. Lady’s point, there is already an obligation on employers to make sure that the temperature is reasonable for the circumstances.