Background information

The Ministry of Labour's Direction Générale du Travail (DGT) has published a ministerial instruction for labour inspectorates on managing heatwaves and a practical guide for employers and employees on managing heatwaves (see Source). The DGT also points out that all employers' obligations in the event of a heat wave are set out in sheet O2/K of the Orsec guide, drawn up by the Ministry of Solidarity and Health in May 2021 (see Source).

Content of measure

Actions to be carried out by the Labour Inspectorate

In the ministerial instruction of 13 June 2023, the DGT asks labour inspectors to:

• Remind employers that they must assess the risks associated with thermal environments, including the risk of 'extreme heat', and include them in the Single Risk Assessment Document (DUER) and that it is forbidden to assign young people to work exposing them to extreme temperatures likely to damage their health;
• Invite companies to adapt their work organisation and encourage professional employers' organisations to share best practice and disseminate, by sector of activity, feedback from previous crises;
• Mobilise prevention and occupational health services, in particular through the work inspectors, so that they are vigilant about the precautions to be taken by employers with regard to employees (collective and individual measures), especially those most exposed to heat-related risks;
• Plan targeted checks on the sectors of activity most affected, in particular construction and public works;
• Reporting serious or fatal accidents at work to the DGT. Monitoring mortality and heat-related accidents is one of the objectives of the plan to prevent serious and fatal accidents at work.

Intensified action in the event of an extreme heatwave

In addition, the actions of the Labour Inspectorate are stepped up in the event of a red alert issued by the national meteorological institute (Meteo France). In this case, the departmental labour administration must:

• Inform the entire network of potential employers about this situation (professional organisations, consular chambers, chambers of agriculture, professional orders, etc.), with reinforced information for contacts representing the most exposed professions;
• Disseminate prevention messages as widely as possible;
• Conduct targeted inspections in the sectors most at risk;
• Provide a weekly update to the DGT on risk management, local measures implemented and difficulties encountered.

Reminder of employers' obligations

Instructions for employers when a département is placed on red alert are also provided, including:

• Daily reassessment of the risks of exposure;
• Adjustment of measures to adapt workstations, workload, working hours and, more generally, work organisation, paying particular attention to pregnant women, people suffering from chronic pathologies or those with disabilities.

If the assessment shows that the measures taken are insufficient, particularly for work carried out at very high temperatures and involving a heavy physical workload (roof insulation or roofing work, handling heavy loads, etc.), the employer must suspend the work activities.

Use of measure

No information available.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Employees in standard employment Workers in non-standard forms of employment	Applies to all businesses	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government Other social actors (e.g. NGOs) Social insurance	No special funding required

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Consulted	Consulted
Form	Consultation through tripartite or bipartite social dialogue bodies	Consultation through tripartite or bipartite social dialogue bodies

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• Social partners jointly
• Main level of involvement: Peak or cross-sectoral level

Involvement

Social partners are involved in the Conseil national d’orientation des conditions de travail (CNOCT) and the Comité national de prévention et de santé au travail (CNPST) which are tripartite consultation bodies on H&S issues. The guide has been draft also with the support of the OPBBTP and the MSA (Social security for Agriculture) that are managed by social partners.

Views and reactions

No information. But CGT has published a statement that stresses it should be 'essential that legislation on hot weather be amended as of now to include maximum temperatures in the Labour Code and to include an obligation to negotiate in companies and branches to supplement these future provisions of the Labour Code'. In the meantime, it 'demands the opening of negotiations between trade unions and employers' organisations on this subject, at both branch and company level, and reiterates that it is above all necessary to enable the Labour Inspectorate to carry out appropriate checks by increasing its resources'.

Sources

• 10 May 2021: Guide ORSEC départemental - Disposition spécifique "gestion sanitaire des vagues de chaleur" (sante.gouv.fr)
• 13 June 2023: Instruction DGT/CT4/2023/80 du 13 juin 2023 relative à la gestion des vagues de chaleur en 2023 (www.cdg16.fr)