Column: When is it too hot to work?

As I’m writing this, temperatures have soared again. 30°C plus (the high 80s and 90s in old money) isn’t normal.

I like some sunshine, as do many residents enjoying the Grand Union Canal or Pages Park. But this is getting extreme. School sports days cancelled. Grass turning brown. People sweltering at work. I have to say when I popped into the Greenfields 10th birthday celebrations recently, I thought maybe the aircon was the biggest selling point!

Last year was Britain’s hottest since records began. But it wasn’t an outlier. Four of the past five years feature among the top five warmest ever.

This May was exceptionally hot. June saw the Red Extreme Heat Warning. July’s sizzling too.

This is exactly what climate scientists warned would happen, and we must respond.

I know from the packed showing of the National Emergency Briefing at Leighton Buzzard Library theatre, and the conversations I have and emails I receive from local residents, that people in town and surrounding areas agree. There’s a climate emergency.

That means tackling the causes and adapting to the consequences. The Labour Government has made clean energy a priority by unblocking renewable energy projects and setting up Great British Energy as a publicly owned clean power company.

Locally, we’re playing our part, with the joint tallest onshore wind turbine in the country (I still think we should add a flag and make it the tallest!) and solar farms generating clean, home-grown electricity.

As Chair of Parliament’s Woods and Trees All-Party Parliamentary Group I keep banging the drum for how trees play such an important role in storing carbon and cooling (and, actually, in preventing flooding, also exacerbated by climate change).

I have also long argued for a maximum legal working temperature. Currently the law only sets minimum workplace temperatures. The parliamentary debates from the 1930s about a minimum temperature make fascinating reading. Freezing cold workplaces are uncomfortable, unsafe, unhealthy and unproductive.

Fast forward to today, and I think the same is true of overheated ones. Stats from the TUC shows that productivity can drop by up to 25% when indoor temperatures exceed 30°C.

So, I’m pleased Ministers have confirmed to me that the Government is reviewing workplace heat regulations and will consult on changes. That’s a win. If you agree, please do let me know at www.alexmayer.co.uk/toohot.

I know our climate has changed. I think our laws must too.