What temperature should a warehouse be in the UK?

What does the law say about warehouse temperatures?

The legal duty is regulation 7 of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992. During working hours, the temperature in all workplaces inside buildings “shall be reasonable”. A warehouse is a workplace inside a building, so it is covered.

Regulation 7 also requires adequate thermal insulation where the work makes it necessary, heating that does not give off harmful fumes, and enough thermometers for people to check the temperature.

HSE’s Approved Code of Practice, L24, turns “reasonable” into a figure. Paragraph 61 says a workplace “should normally be at least 16 degrees Celsius”, or at least 13 °C if the work involves rigorous physical effort. Much warehouse work, such as lifting, picking and loading, can fall into that second group. Seated or light work, such as goods-in admin or a packing bench, usually does not.

L24 is clear that hitting those figures does not guarantee people are comfortable. Air movement, humidity and clothing all matter. Paragraph 60 sets the goal: a temperature that gives reasonable comfort without special clothing. Our guide to the minimum workplace temperature covers these paragraphs in more detail.

Is there a maximum temperature for a warehouse?

No. HSE says: “There is no maximum temperature for workplaces.” But it also says heat is classed as a hazard, with the same legal duties as any other. You need to assess the risk and put controls in place, which can include temporary or seasonal ones. See our guide to the maximum workplace temperature.

What if the warehouse cannot be heated throughout?

Large, high, draughty buildings are hard to keep at 16 °C everywhere, and L24 allows for that. Paragraph 62 says the figures do not apply where it would be impractical to maintain them, for example in rooms that have to be open to the outside, or where food or other products have to be kept cold. In those cases the temperature should be as close to 16 °C (or 13 °C) as is practical.

L24 then sets out what to do instead:

• Local heating. If a reasonably comfortable temperature cannot be achieved throughout a workroom, local heating should be provided (paragraph 65).
• Protective clothing and rest facilities. Where local heating does not give reasonable comfort, suitable protective clothing and rest facilities should be provided (paragraph 69).
• Systems of work. Where practical, task rotation should limit how long people are exposed (paragraph 69).
• Rooms that are rarely used. People working in places such as storerooms should get temporary heating and other controls where appropriate, unless they are only there for short periods (paragraph 67).

HSE’s guidance on managing workplace temperatures adds practical controls for the cold: portable heaters so areas are warm enough when occupied, reducing draughts while keeping ventilation, insulating floor coverings or special footwear for people standing on cold floors, and enough breaks to get hot drinks or warm up in heated areas.

What about cold stores and chillers?

Cold stores fall under the same paragraph 62 exception, so the aim is to protect the people working in them. L24 paragraph 63 lists measures for cold rooms, including keeping chilled areas as small as possible, insulated floor coverings, excluding draughts from workstations and self-closing doors where practical.

HSE’s guidance on chilled and frozen food goes further. For work in chillers around 0 °C, it says suitable clothing and normal breaks are usually sufficient. For blast freezers running down to minus 30 °C, it says no personal protective equipment will be sufficient, and breaks at ambient temperature or in warming rooms will be needed. HSE also points to British Standards for cold workplaces, such as BS 7915 on cold indoor working practices.

What temperature should stock be kept at?

That depends on the stock, and different rules apply.

Chilled food. The Food Standards Agency says chilled food must be kept at 8 °C or below. This is a legal requirement in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and recommended in Scotland. The FSA also recommends that fridges and chilled display equipment are set at 5 °C or below.

Medicines. Wholesale distributors of human medicines need an MHRA wholesale distribution licence and must comply with good distribution practice (GDP). The MHRA’s inspectors point to the GDP guidelines, which say an initial temperature mapping exercise should be carried out on a storage area before use, and that monitoring equipment should be placed according to its results. The MHRA notes that “many medicines are intended to be stored below 25°C”, while others need refrigeration. The packaging sets the condition you have to meet.

Other ambient goods. There is no general legal storage temperature. Follow the manufacturer’s storage instructions. The MHRA’s inspectorate makes the point that ambient products are also temperature sensitive.

Why do warehouses vary so much?

A warehouse is rarely one temperature. Three things drive the difference.

• Height. Warm air rises, so the top of the racking can be much warmer than the floor, especially under a roof in summer. The MHRA’s guidance on mapping says to map the highest point of storage, which is not always the highest shelf.
• Loading bays and doors. Every time a dock door opens, outside air comes in. The MHRA lists heaters, lighting, windows, doors and loading bays as areas to look at.
• Seasons. A building that holds steady in spring can run hot in July and cold in January. The MHRA recommends repeating mapping to take seasonal variation into account.

This is why L24 says temperature readings should be taken close to workstations, at working height and away from windows.

How should you monitor a warehouse?

Start by deciding what you are protecting. People and stock need different sensors in different places.

1. Map it once. Place sensors across the floor and at several heights for a few weeks, in summer and in winter. That shows you the hot and cold spots. For medicines, this is the mapping exercise GDP expects. 2. Put permanent sensors where the extremes are. GDP says monitoring equipment should follow the mapping results. For staff, add sensors at working height in the areas people use, away from doors and heaters. 3. Set alerts that reach someone out of hours. A chiller can fail overnight, or the heating can drop out at a weekend, with nobody there to notice. An alert needs to reach a named person on a phone. 4. Keep the records. Readings, alerts and what was done about them. That is how you answer a complaint, an inspection or an insurance claim. Our guide to proving a room’s temperature explains what a good record looks like.

For a specific site, check with a competent health and safety adviser and, for medicines, your Responsible Person.