The Environmental Services Association (ESA) has published seasonal weather guidance for the waste and recycling sector, setting out a staged heat-index framework and practical measures to protect frontline staff during prolonged hot weather.

The guidance covers sites, collections, fire prevention, ventilation, health and wellbeing, PPE specifications and risk assessment, and comes on the back of repeated alerts issued by the Met Office in June and July.

Operational measures

At the centre of the guidance is a four-band heat-index framework. At 27-32°C, operators should brief crews, confirm water availability and schedule heavy work for cooler hours. Between 32°C and 41°C, formal work-rest cycles, shade rests and buddy watches apply. Above 41°C, non-essential heavy outdoor work should be suspended, and at 54°C all outdoor and plant work stops.

The ESA notes there is no legal maximum working temperature in the UK. The controlling duty is to assess and manage the risk, and operators should also act on UKHSA/Met Office Heat-Health Alerts. A sustained cab temperature above 30°C should be treated as a defect.

Operators should reschedule physically demanding tasks and collections to cooler periods, combine site inspections to reduce repeat journeys, and review staffing and welfare arrangements during prolonged hot weather. Workers should hydrate to schedule - roughly 250 ml every 15 to 20 minutes during heavy work in heat - rather than relying on thirst, with electrolytes added for sustained heavy sweating beyond two hours.

The guidance also addresses fire risk, warning that hot weather raises the likelihood of waste-pile self-heating, hot loads and lithium-ion battery fires. Operators should quarantine hot or suspect loads and damaged batteries at a documented isolation distance, monitor stockpile temperatures through thermal imaging, and limit pile height.

Local authorities adapt collection services

Local authorities were already adjusting services during the late June heatwave. Councils across southern England closed household waste recycling centres during afternoon peak temperatures, while many started kerbside collections earlier in the morning and delayed bulky waste rounds to focus crews on residual, dry recycling and food waste.

Vicky Beechey at Oxfordshire County Council said there were consequences to these short-term changes “in terms of catch-up and delivery of material to other sites to keep services going, which have to be balanced against any decision to make a short-term service change.”

Jarno Stet, secretary of the National Association of Waste Disposal Officers (NAWDO), said most authorities had contingency plans covering extreme weather. “How the heat affects each LA will differ but the common approach to responding will be to safeguard operational staff and the public by taking measures that limit risk,” he said. If prolonged heat became the new normal, Stet added, he expected waste services would be delivered in similar ways to those in southern Europe, the Middle East and other regions with hot climates.

London Borough of Hackney, one of the North London Waste Authority’s constituent boroughs, maintained collections from 125,000 households through the heatwave. “Mitigations put in place include enabling crews to start earlier than usual, giving longer break times and providing water, sun cream and clothing most amenable to working in hot conditions,” the council said. “Our managers are keeping in touch with crews throughout the day to provide advice and to check on their wellbeing, which is always our first concern.”

PPE: protection without overheating

PPE protects workers but adds heat, and the ESA is clear that the answer is never to reduce a protection level. Instead, operators should change the specification of the PPE, the timing of the work, or both.

The guidance recommends breathable, moisture-wicking high-visibility garments with lighter background colours where standards allow. Vented helmets with neck shades, powered air-purifying respirators for sustained tasks, and anti-fog eyewear all feature in the specifications. Sweat-soaked gloves lose grip and protection, so glove-change frequency should increase in hot conditions.

The guidance includes case studies from operators that have redesigned summer PPE. One worked with its manufacturer to develop a lightweight EN ISO 20471 compliant recycled vented polo shirt with front zip fastening, mesh ventilation panels and chevron stretch reflective tape. Another risk-assessed the introduction of high-visibility shorts for specific activities, though the ESA does not advocate routine use of shorts given the hazards present in the sector.

Employees should be involved in selecting or changing PPE specifications, the guidance says, with user trials during representative seasonal conditions to assess comfort, durability and fit before wider deployment.