Working in Heat and Frost on Site: Employer Duties

July, midday, 34 degrees in the shade - except there is no shade on the roof. Your crew is laying felt, the asphalt is giving off fumes, and you watch the lads keep ducking under a tarpaulin to catch their breath. Six months later, the reverse scene: minus 15, the wind gets in under the jacket, the mortar freezes and the fitter can't feel his fingers. A construction site doesn't take a break for the weather - but the law says clearly that you, as the employer, have obligations that neither heat nor frost suspends. In this article I break it down: when you must provide preventive drinks and meals, how to organise work in extreme temperatures and where the PIP (Polish Labour Inspectorate) most often catches construction firms out. BudoReady packages give you ready-made procedures and a register of preventive drinks and meals issued - you enter the data and it's off your plate.

Key points in brief

• For work in the open in the heat you are obliged to provide cold drinks, and at temperatures below 10°C - hot drinks. This is not goodwill, it is the law.
• Preventive meals are due, among other cases, for work in the open in the winter period (1 November - 31 March) when the energy expenditure exceeds the limits set in the regulation.
• Drinks and meals are free - a worker cannot be given a cash equivalent in return for giving them up.
• You must provide rooms to warm up in in winter and shelter from the sun/rain - on a construction site this is usually the welfare facilities or a container.
• The rest of the obligations follow from the regulation on OSH during construction work of 6 February 2003 (occupational safety and health) and the Labour Code (KP) - and this is what the PIP checks.

Where this obligation comes from - the legal basis

Let's start with the fact that this is not a matter of your good heart. The obligation to provide preventive drinks and meals follows directly from Article 232 of the Labour Code and from the Regulation of the Council of Ministers of 28 May 1996 on preventive meals and drinks. Added to that is the Regulation of the Minister of Infrastructure of 6 February 2003 on occupational health and safety during construction work - your bible on site, because it describes working conditions in the open, welfare facilities and protection against the weather.

On a construction site the problem is that you work in the open all year round. In summer there is a risk of overheating and dehydration; in winter, of hypothermia and frostbite. The law does not say "stop working when it is hot". It says: "when it is hot or cold, provide people with what lets them work safely". And for the lack of it you will get it in the neck from the inspector.

Work in the heat - drinks and organisation

When the temperature at a workstation in the open exceeds 25°C, you are obliged to provide workers with cold drinks in quantities that meet their needs - in practice without a limit, as much as they want. This is not about one bottle of water per day. It is about real access throughout the working time.

What else you do in the heat, so you have no problem either with the PIP or with a fainting crew:

• provide a shaded place to rest - a tarpaulin, a container, the shade of a building;
• schedule the heaviest work for the cooler hours (early morning) and plan lighter tasks for the peak of the heat;
• introduce more frequent, short breaks to cool down and rehydrate;
• watch for signs of overheating: dizziness, nausea, confusion - this is not fuss, it is heatstroke in the making.

The drinks must be free. You must not pay a cash equivalent instead of drinks - a worker is to get water, not 5 zł for water. This is a common mistake the inspector spots immediately.

Work in the frost - hot drinks and preventive meals

The other side of the year. When the temperature in the open drops below 10°C, you are obliged to provide hot drinks - tea, coffee, hot soup in a flask. Again: free of charge, in quantities that meet their needs.

Added to that are preventive meals. They are due to workers performing work involving physical effort causing a defined energy expenditure - and for work in the open in the winter period (1 November - 31 March) the energy-expenditure threshold is lower, so far more construction work falls under it. A bricklayer, a steel fixer, a fitter in the frost usually meets these limits.

A preventive meal is one hot meal per day during working time. You can provide it in several ways: issue a ready meal, give products to prepare on site (if there is somewhere to do so), or - and this is common on sites - issue vouchers/cards for a meal that entitle the worker to buy one. The choice is yours, but you must give something. In winter you must also provide a room to warm up in - a heated welfare container where the crew can warm up and eat.

What is due and when - a table

So you don't get lost in the thresholds, remember this table. These are the points most often confused on site:

Condition	What you must provide	Basis
Work in the open, temperature above 25°C	Cold drinks without limit, free of charge; a shaded rest place	Reg. of the Council of Ministers 28.05.1996 + reg. on OSH in construction 6.02.2003
Work in the open, temperature below 10°C	Hot drinks free of charge; a room to warm up in	Reg. of the Council of Ministers 28.05.1996
Winter (1 Nov - 31 Mar), open air, high energy expenditure	Preventive meal (1 per day) - ready meal, products or voucher	Art. 232 KP + reg. of the Council of Ministers 28.05.1996
All year round	Welfare facilities, shelter from sun/rain, work clothing appropriate to the season	Reg. on OSH in construction 6.02.2003

Clothing and protective measures for the weather

Drinks are not everything. Your duty also includes protective clothing suited to the weather conditions. In winter that means warm insulated clothing, gloves, footwear with a suitable sole; in summer - headwear protecting against the sun, breathable work clothing. You enter all this in the table for allocating personal protective equipment and work clothing - and you confirm each issue with a signature in the register. Without it, at an inspection you cannot prove that you provided the items rather than just "told them to buy their own". We described how to keep this in the article on the PPE register and allocation table.

What the PIP checks and what the lack of it costs

A PIP inspector on a site in summer or winter looks at a few things almost automatically: whether there is access to drinks, whether the welfare facilities allow people to warm up or cool down, whether the clothing suits the season, and whether you keep a register of preventive meals and drinks issued. No drinks in the heat or no meals in winter is a classic failing, punishable by a fine of up to 5,000 zł (and, if the case is referred to court, a higher fine). We set out the full list of penalties separately - see the list of PIP penalties.

Remember too that from 8 July 2026 the PIP reform comes into force, strengthening inspectors' powers. Inspections on sites will be more thorough, and such "obvious" gaps as no water in the heat will be caught even more easily. The cheapest thing is to have it in order before anyone comes to check.

Frequently asked questions

At 30°C, can I send the crew home on full pay?

The regulations do not require stopping work at any specific temperature in the open - the obligation is to provide drinks, shade and breaks. The decision to shorten work in extreme heat is yours as the employer and can be sensible for safety, but the law primarily requires proper work organisation and prevention, not an automatic sending-home.

Can I pay the worker money instead of drinks and meals?

No. Preventive drinks and meals are a benefit in kind - you have to physically provide them. Paying a cash equivalent instead of a drink or meal is contrary to the regulations, and a PIP inspector will treat it as a failure to meet the obligation.

From what winter temperature are hot drinks due on a construction site?

Hot drinks are due for work in the open when the temperature drops below 10°C. Preventive meals are added for work in the winter period (1 November - 31 March) with a correspondingly high energy expenditure, which for heavier construction work is usually met.

Does a worker from Ukraine have the same rights to drinks and meals?

Yes, in full. A worker from Ukraine employed in your firm is subject to the same OSH regulations as a Pole - drinks in the heat, hot drinks and meals in winter, welfare facilities. There is no reduced rate here, and bilingual procedures help the whole crew understand the rules.

Have the procedures and register ready - the STANDARD package

Let's be honest - no site manager is going to sit down in the evening and write a drinks-issuing procedure and a clothing allocation table from scratch. That is why we did it for you. In the STANDARD package (449 zł, 27 files) you get ready-made procedures for working in weather conditions, a register of preventive drinks and meals issued, and a table for allocating personal protective equipment and work clothing - all tailored to PKD 43 (Polish business activity code) and a construction micro-business. You enter your firm's and crew's data, print it, and file it.

If you also want the full package for reacting to inspections and accidents, choose FULL (749 zł, 45 files) - it has everything from STANDARD plus PIP procedures. The documents are in a PL and UA version, so you can communicate with the whole crew. The promotion runs until 7 July 2026 - that is, just before the PIP reform comes into force.

See BudoReady packages and choose yours →

The takeaway is simple. Heat and frost are not an excuse but a predictable part of the job on site - and the law says exactly what you have to provide in those conditions. Water in the heat, hot tea and a meal in the frost, facilities to warm up, clothing for the weather. It costs peanuts compared with a fine or a dehydrated worker on the roof. Set it up once, keep the register and sleep soundly through both seasons.

This article is for information only and does not replace individual legal advice or a consultation with an OSH specialist. Document templates require individual adaptation to the reality of your company and specific workstations, and the current legal position should be verified as at the date of use.