General Workplace Issues

8.1 Health, Welfare and Work Environment

Health and welfare

Welfare means the basic facilities that every workplace should provide. Statute law and codes of practice normally fix the exact number of facilities required, and the points below describe good practice.

• Drinking water. An adequate supply of good-quality drinking water should be provided, with an upward drinking jet or suitable cups. Water should be supplied in refillable enclosed containers only where it cannot be taken directly from the mains, and the containers should be refilled at least daily. Bottled water or water dispensers may still be provided as a second source. Drinking water must be marked where there is a significant risk that people could drink water that is not fit for drinking.
• Washing facilities and sanitary conveniences. Suitable and sufficient toilets and washing facilities should be provided at readily accessible places. They, and the rooms that hold them, should be kept clean, adequately ventilated and lit. Washing facilities should have running hot and cold, or warm, water, soap, and clean towels or another means of cleaning and drying. If the type of work requires it, showers should also be provided. Men and women should have separate facilities, unless each facility is in a separate room with a lockable door and is used by one person at a time.
• Accommodation for clothing. Adequate, suitable and secure space should be provided to store workers' own clothing and any special clothing needed. So far as is reasonably practicable, the facilities should allow clothing to dry. Changing facilities should be provided for workers who change into special work clothing. They should be easy to reach from workrooms and from washing and eating facilities, give privacy, have enough capacity and include seating.
• Rest and eating facilities. Suitable and sufficient rest facilities that are easy to reach should be provided. Seats should be available for use during breaks, in a place where PPE need not be worn. Rest areas or rooms should be large enough, with enough seats with backs, and tables, for the number of workers likely to use them at one time, including suitable access and enough seating for the disabled people at work. Where workers regularly eat meals at work, suitable and sufficient eating facilities should be provided, and also where food would otherwise be likely to be contaminated. Work areas can count as rest areas and eating facilities if they are adequately clean and have a suitable surface for food. Eating facilities should include a way to prepare or obtain a hot drink. Where hot food cannot be obtained at or near the workplace, workers may need a way of heating their own food, such as a microwave oven. Canteens or restaurants can serve as rest facilities as long as there is no obligation to buy food. Suitable rest facilities should be provided for pregnant women and nursing mothers, near sanitary facilities and, where necessary, with somewhere to lie down.
• Seating. Workstations should suit the people using them and the work they do, and people should be able to leave them quickly in an emergency. If work can or must be done sitting, suitable seats should be provided. Seating should support the lower back adequately, and footrests should be provided for workers who cannot place their feet flat on the floor.
• Ventilation. Workplaces need adequate ventilation. Fresh, clean air should be drawn from a source outside the workplace, uncontaminated by discharges from flues, chimneys or other process outlets, and circulated through the workrooms. Ventilation should also remove and dilute warm, humid air and give air movement that feels fresh without causing a draught. If the workplace has process or heating equipment, or other sources of dust, fumes or vapours, more fresh air is needed. Windows and other openings may give enough ventilation but, where necessary, mechanical ventilation should be provided and regularly maintained.
• Heating. Environmental factors, such as humidity and sources of heat, combine with personal factors, such as clothing and how physically demanding the work is, to produce a person's thermal comfort. Individual preference makes it hard to specify a thermal environment that suits everyone. HSE's Great Britain guidance normally suggests at least 16 °C for indoor work, or 13 °C where work involves rigorous physical effort. These are guidance values, not universal statutory minimums or proof of thermal comfort. Assess the actual environment, task and people, including special-process needs.
• Lighting. Lighting should be enough to let people work and move about safely. Where necessary, provide local lighting at individual workstations and at places of particular risk, such as crossing points on traffic routes. Lighting and light fittings should not create any hazard. Automatic emergency lighting, powered by an independent source, should be provided where a sudden loss of light would create a risk.

Summary notes for Element 8 · Cheat sheet · Glossary. A study aid, not published or endorsed by NEBOSH.