DUBLIN – Senator Neasa Cosgrove of the Labour Party has called for the introduction of legally defined maximum temperature limits in Irish workplaces, arguing that current legislation fails to protect employees during increasingly frequent extreme heat events.
The proposal comes as Ireland experiences temperatures reaching 30 degrees Celsius, highlighting a regulatory gap in a country where labor laws have historically focused on maintaining minimum warmth rather than preventing overheating.
This push for prescriptive temperature ceilings reflects a broader European trend as climate change brings unprecedented heatwaves to Northern Europe. The debate centers on whether general “duty of care” obligations are sufficient to protect workers, or if specific statutory limits are required to ensure uniform safety standards across diverse industries.
European Regulatory Benchmarks
Senator Cosgrove’s proposal seeks to align Ireland with several European neighbors that have already codified maximum workplace temperatures to mitigate heat stress. In Germany, for example, a normal maximum workplace temperature is generally recognized at 26 degrees Celsius, while Spain has established a limit of 27 degrees Celsius.
Under her proposed legislation, which Cosgrove intends to introduce in the Seanad after the summer recess, the maximum limit could be set between 25 and 30 degrees Celsius, depending on the nature of the work and the environment.
“While temperatures reaching 30 degrees may feel like a novelty in Ireland, the reality for many workers is very different. For people working in poorly ventilated offices, warehouses, kitchens, factories, retail settings and construction sites, excessive heat can quickly become uncomfortable, harmful and, in some cases, dangerous,” Cosgrove said.
The Senator emphasized the necessity of modernization, stating: “I just think it’s time for us to … be in line with other European countries.” She has framed the move as part of a broader effort to update Ireland’s health and safety regime for a climate in which summer extremes are becoming less exceptional and more predictable.
The Legal Gap in Irish Labor Law
Current Irish law provides specific protections against cold, but offers no equivalent statutory ceiling for heat. The existing regulations for sedentary work are as follows:
- Sedentary office work: A minimum temperature of 17.5 degrees Celsius must be maintained, as far as reasonably practicable, after the first hour of work.
- Other sedentary work: Workstations involving minimal physical effort must maintain a minimum of 16 degrees Celsius.
These minimums are underpinned by the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005, which requires employers to ensure, “so far as is reasonably practicable,” the safety, health and welfare of employees. However, the law and its supporting regulations stop short of specifying an upper temperature threshold, instead relying on employers’ general duty to manage environmental risks.
Cosgrove argues that the absence of a maximum limit leaves workers in high-risk sectors-specifically hospitality, catering, retail, and construction-vulnerable, and creates uneven standards between more regulated and less regulated workplaces. To address this, she suggested the legislation would include “certain conditions” to ensure feasibility, such as the provision of fans, improved ventilation, scheduled water breaks, and shaded areas for outdoor site workers, rather than simply requiring premises to close once a fixed temperature is reached.
When questioned about high-heat environments like commercial kitchens, Cosgrove noted that the priority would be ensuring “proper ventilation” in those specific areas, coupled with clearer guidance for employers on how to assess and respond to heat risk in physically demanding roles.
Industry Opposition and Risk Assessment
Business representative bodies have pushed back against the proposal, arguing that existing health and safety frameworks already provide adequate protection without the need for rigid temperature caps.
Ibec, which represents Irish industry, contends that adding further legislation is unnecessary given the requirements of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 and its associated regulations and codes of practice.
“It seems counterintuitive to introduce additional legislation when employers are already legally required to provide a safe working environment regarding workplace temperatures,” Ibec stated. “Legislation under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 already dictates that employers must conduct risk assessments for heat stress and take proactive steps to protect employees.”
Ibec further noted that the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) of Ireland already requires employers to mitigate the risks of dehydration, heatstroke, and exhaustion, regardless of whether a specific numerical temperature limit exists in law. Employer groups warn that prescriptive thresholds could prove difficult to apply uniformly across sectors and could expose smaller firms to additional compliance costs for only a few exceptionally hot days each year.
The Irish SME Association (ISME) echoed these sentiments, stating that small and medium enterprises consistently work to maintain safe and comfortable environments in accordance with the 2005 Act and the guidelines set by the HSA, and cautioning against what it describes as “one-size-fits-all” rules that may not reflect local conditions or the nature of particular workplaces.
The Push for EU-Wide Directives
Beyond the national debate in Ireland, the issue has become a focal point for organized labor across the continent. Cosgrove noted that trade unions across Europe are currently lobbying for a European Union directive that would establish a harmonized standard for maximum workplace temperatures.
Such a directive would move the EU toward a standardized approach to occupational heat stress, potentially overriding fragmented national guidelines and creating a mandatory baseline for all member states. Any eventual EU rule would likely be implemented through national legislation and enforced by domestic regulators, placing Ireland’s discussion within a broader shift in how European labor law responds to climate risk.
For now, Senator Cosgrove is refining the draft bill for formal introduction to the Seanad following the summer recess, setting up a clash between legislators seeking clearer statutory protections and employer groups who insist that existing risk-based frameworks are enough.
