Ireland has no legal maximum workplace temperature. As Met Éireann forecast temperatures of 31C for parts of the country on 26 June 2026, that gap moved from a regulatory footnote to an active employer liability. Working in heatwave Ireland is not a niche occupational scenario anymore. It is a recurring seasonal condition that the country's health and safety framework has not yet caught up with, and employers left to interpret a general duty of care without a defined temperature threshold are navigating material risk without a clear statutory map.

The legal position is not ambiguous, it is simply incomplete. Under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005, employers carry a strict duty of care to protect staff from heat stress. The Health and Safety Authority advises that while no maximum temperature is stated in regulations, employers must assess and mitigate risks from extreme heat. That obligation covers outdoor and indoor workers, requires provision of cool drinking water, shaded rest areas, adjusted schedules, and breathable PPE, and extends to sunscreen and eyewear protection for outdoor staff given Ireland's UV exposure levels during summer peaks. What it does not provide is the kind of specific temperature trigger that makes enforcement consistent and employer compliance unambiguous.

The UK's Health and Safety Executive takes the same general duty approach, advising employers to keep temperatures at a reasonable level without setting a statutory maximum, a position that has faced sustained criticism from trade unions during successive heatwaves. In contrast, several US states have moved to specific thresholds, with California triggering mandatory protections at 80 degrees Fahrenheit for outdoor workers and adding an indoor heat illness standard in July 2024. Ireland's absence rate across all sectors sits at approximately 7.4% to 12.3% in a normal year, with construction, agriculture, and transport recording higher figures during heat events, sectors where the consequences of heat stress are not limited to productivity loss but extend to physical injury and fatality risk.

Three actions are available to Irish employers now, ahead of any regulatory update. First, conduct a heat-specific risk assessment for all outdoor and poorly ventilated indoor roles, treating working in heatwave Ireland as a foreseeable seasonal hazard rather than an exceptional event. Second, formalise acclimatisation protocols for workers returning to outdoor roles after a break, given that the body requires gradual exposure to high heat to adapt safely, particularly for workers returning from leave during a sudden temperature spike. Third, engage with HSA guidance on thermal comfort and heat stress to establish site-specific controls that go beyond generic advice, ensuring that risk assessments are documented, reviewed, and communicated to line managers before the next high-temperature warning is issued.

Ireland's climate is warming. Working in heatwave Ireland will become a more frequent operational reality, not a once-a-decade disruption. The Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 gives employers the obligation; it does not give them the specificity. That gap belongs on the HSA's reform agenda before the next record temperature, not after it.

(The views expressed by the writer are his/her own and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of BusinessRiver.)