The Department of Labour Inspection (TEE), the competent authority for occupational safety and health issues, informs the affected companies through the Federation of Employers and Industrialists (OEB) that during the months of June, July and August 2025, it will conduct an inspection campaign at construction sites and premises of various economic activities where outdoor work is carried out and it is possible that during the summer months the thermal stress of the workers will be particularly increased.
The inspections will mainly focus on the control of compliance with the basic provisions of the Occupational Safety and Health Legislation, in relation to the implementation of preventive and protective measures to address the risks related to thermal stress of workers.
It is clarified that during the inspections, the compliance of companies with the relevant legislation will be checked in order to deal with other risks.
It should be noted that, in order to address the thermal stress of workers in indoor or outdoor spaces, employers and self-employed persons must apply the provisions of the Occupational Safety and Health (Code of Practice for Thermal Stress of Workers) Decrees of 2014 to 2023 (K.D.P. 291/2014, K.D.P. 206/2020 and K.D.P. 231/2023), which are available, along with relevant information, on the website of the Technical Chamber of Greece.
According to the provisions of the above Code, employers as well as self-employed persons should carry out measurements of the parameters that contribute to thermal stress, such as air temperature and relative humidity and/or monitor the weather reports and forecasts of the Meteorological Service and regulate their work accordingly.
It is noted that for the performance of the above measurements, special instruments are available on the market that measure the temperature of a dry thermometer and humidity at the same time.
For the purposes of documenting the monitoring of temperature and humidity conditions, as well as the required change of work / rest and other measures, employers and self-employed persons must record the above measurements and measures in Table 14 of the Code entitled “Recording of temperature and humidity conditions, change of work / rest per hour and measures” when high temperature conditions prevail in combination with the relative humidity and act in accordance with Table 12 of the Code entitled “Imposed employment relationship – change of job/rest”, i.e. reduce or even interrupt the work they perform.
In addition, in any case of warning issued by the Department of Meteorology where it is issued for extremely high temperature (orange or red risk level), the special provisions of the Occupational Safety and Health (Code of Practice for Thermal Stress of Employees) Amending Decree of 2023 apply, for the required interruption of work.
For information purposes, a list of checkpoints together with corresponding explanations of the main risks and protection and prevention measures on which the campaign is focused, is included in the Annex.
In addition, a Short Code of Practice Guide for the thermal stress of employees is available on the website of the Technical Chamber of Greece, which includes the basic provisions of the Code and the required protection and prevention measures.
For additional clarifications or information, you can contact the competent Labour Inspector Mr. George Kalogeropoulos at tel. 22405651 / 22405623 or by email to gkalogeropoulos@dli.mlsi.gov.cy.
