what are the rights of workers in the face of a heat wave?

Carrying out your professional activity in the middle of a heat wave can be very painful. So, what are the rules provided by labor law? “If you work in an office, your employer is not obliged to install an air conditioning system, but they must still absolutely allow the air to be renewed or certain rooms to be ventilated. The aim is to avoid too high a temperature in closed rooms”, explains journalist Sophie Lanson, live on the 12/13 set of France 3, Wednesday May 15. The boss must, moreover, “provide fresh drinking water”.

For those who work outside, on construction sites for example, “the employer must provide a free drink for hydration”, says the journalist. On the other hand, the bosses have no particular obligations, but recommendations from the institute responsible for preventing accidents at work. “For example, staggering the schedules to start earlier, when it is cooler, limiting the pace of work or even increasing the number of breaks”reports Sophie Lanson.