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Australian Union Wants Workers To Stop Work When The Temperature Hits 28 Degrees

Australian Union Wants Workers To Stop Work When The Temperature Hits 28 Degrees

Humidity also has to be at 75 per cent for the rule to kick in.

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie

Everyone knows that Australia can get pretty hot at times. Even our winter months have become milder over the years (depending where you live), meaning we're spending a lot of time in hotter conditions.

While there will be loads of people celebrating that because they can go to the beach or crack open that bottle of Chardy earlier, there are others who hate it.

One group of people who aren't keen on the heat is anyone who has to work outside.

PA

There are laws in place that allow for people to stop work when the mercury hits a certain level. However the CFMMEU wants to change that and bring it much lower.

The Construction, Fishing, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union, which represents more than 140,000 people across Australia, has drawn a line in the sand in Queensland.

The union is asking for workers in Brisbane to be allowed to stop work when it gets hotter than 28 degrees and when humidity goes above 75 per cent for three hours after the start of a shift.

According to The Australian, the request has been accepted by 140 commercial contractors and subcontractors across southeast Queensland.

If and when this type of weather happens, 'there will be an orderly cessation of work and preparations for safe completions of critical tasks currently underway...or modifications to the workload'.

via GIPHY

Unsurprisingly, the decision has ruffled a few feathers.

Master Builders Queensland chief executive Grant Galvin released a statement saying: "This will create an occupational health and safety nightmare. It absolutely has the potential to cause more stoppages in Brisbane throughout next year.

"If you applied this provision outside of southeast Queensland, it's likely that no construction work would get done in a year as Queensland is by nature, hot and humid. If you applied this provision to Darwin in the NT, you wouldn't work one day in a year.

"When we questioned the logic of limiting this provision to SEQ if it was a genuine health and safety issue, the answer we were given was 'the workers ­outside SEQ are more used to the higher temperatures and ­humidity, therefore they are at less risk as they know how to manage it'."

While you might think this will happen every single day during summer, The Australian has referenced Bureau of Meteorology data which showed there were just 13 days in the past year where it was hotter than 28 degrees and humidity was above 75 per cent.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: News, Australia