A report published in June 2026 puts a number on something outdoor and physical workers have felt for years: heat is a serious, and largely unmanaged, workplace hazard. Around 130 million workers across the EU are exposed to workplace heat stress every year, linked to an estimated 277,000 injuries and 230 deaths annually. Yet EU law still doesn’t set a clear, measurable limit on how hot a workplace is allowed to get before work has to stop.
What EU law actually says about heat
The core protection comes from the Framework Directive (89/391/EEC), which requires employers to assess all risks to workers’ health and safety, including, in principle, heat. The Workplace Directive (89/654/EEC) adds that indoor temperatures must be “adequate for human beings” given the work being done. What’s missing is any specific, measurable trigger: no defined temperature threshold, no validated heat exposure indicator, and no EU-wide requirement for acclimatisation. Hydration and rest breaks are only partially addressed. In practice, employers are left to interpret “adequate” largely on their own.
A proposed fix is on the table
European trade union organisations have put forward a model directive that would close this gap. It proposes maximum workplace exposure levels based on the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT), a measure that combines temperature, humidity, radiant heat and air movement, roughly ranging from 30°C to 32.5°C depending on how physically demanding the work is. Above that threshold, the proposal would require work to stop. It would also require employers to formally assess heat risk, provide water and cooling breaks, adjust working hours during heatwaves, and consult workers on how heat is managed. This is a proposal, not adopted law, but it shows where pressure is building for the next update to EU OSH rules.
Why this matters for Ireland specifically
Ireland’s summers are milder than southern Europe’s, which makes it tempting to treat this as someone else’s problem. That’s a mistake for two reasons. First, the sectors most exposed to heat risk, construction and agriculture, are the same sectors the HSA’s own 2025 fatality figures identify as Ireland’s highest-risk industries. A workforce already carrying elevated risk from falls, machinery and manual handling has less margin to absorb an additional, poorly managed hazard. Second, EU-wide rules, once adopted, apply regardless of local climate norms; employers who wait for a binding directive before thinking about heat risk will be starting from zero.
What employers can do now
- Add heat exposure to risk assessments for outdoor and physically demanding roles, rather than treating it as an informal, weather-dependent judgement call.
- Build simple, documented triggers for water breaks, shade and rescheduling of the most demanding tasks during hot spells.
- Train supervisors to recognise early signs of heat-related illness, not just general first aid.
- Keep an eye on developments at EU level; a directive with binding WBGT thresholds would require most outdoor employers to formalise practices that are currently informal.
Heat stress doesn’t get the same attention as falls or manual handling injuries in Ireland, largely because of climate rather than risk. That’s changing at EU level, and the sectors most exposed are the ones already under the most safety scrutiny.
IFC Training Hub provides online workplace safety and compliance training to organisations across Ireland, including Working at Height and Manual Handling. Browse all courses or get in touch to discuss training for your team.
