Heat rules in South Australia: no set temperature, the WHS Regulations and SafeWork SA's heat guidance

This page reports what the official source says. It is not legal advice: ask the office named here. It restates four SafeWork SA documents, all read on October 10, 2026: the Heat and UV web page, the Guidance for working in the heat (version 3), the Working in the heat factsheet (version 5.1) and the Managing the work environment and facilities Code of Practice. The Act and Regulations sections below are given as SafeWork SA's guidance names them. Other Australian places are on the Australia heat page and in the heat rules overview.

No stop-work temperature

The Heat and UV page says the work health and safety legislation does not specify a stop-work temperature, and does not set temperatures at which a worker may be sent home. It explains that one number would not capture humidity, air flow, the heat source, the intensity and length of the work, individual factors such as fitness and acclimatisation, or whether controls can be put in place. It adds that some employment agreements carry a heat clause, and that the risks from heat have to be managed so far as is reasonably practicable by the person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU). The page carries a note that SafeWork SA is updating these resources, and prints no last-updated date.

Duties the guidance lists

Provision, as SafeWork SA names it	What the guidance says it covers	Source
Work Health and Safety Act 2012 (SA), section 19	The PCBU's primary duty of care	Guidance, version 3
Act, section 47	Duty to consult workers	Guidance, version 3
Work Health and Safety Regulations 2012 (SA), regulations 34 to 36	Identifying hazards, managing risks and the hierarchy of control measures	Guidance, version 3
Regulation 39	Information, training and instruction	Guidance, version 3
Regulation 40	General workplace facilities: workers in extremes of heat or cold must be able to work without risk to health and safety, so far as is reasonably practicable	Guidance and the code of practice, page 11
Act, section 27	Officers' due diligence, including reasonable steps to ensure resources and processes exist	Guidance, version 3
Act, section 28	Duty of workers	Guidance, version 3
Act, sections 84 and 85	A worker's right to cease unsafe work, and a health and safety representative's power to direct that unsafe work cease	Guidance, version 3

The guidance words the PCBU duty as eliminating risks from the work environment or, where that is not reasonably practicable, minimising them so far as is reasonably practicable. It also lists monitoring of workers' health and workplace conditions, consultation, and information and training that is suitable, adequate and understood. SafeWork SA says a PCBU must consult workers and their health and safety representatives on how heat risks are managed, and must consult other PCBUs at the same workplace. The Heat and UV page says duty holders must identify and control heat hazards and solar UV exposure so far as reasonably practicable.

The right to cease work

The guidance says a worker may cease or refuse work where they have a reasonable concern that continuing would expose them to a serious risk to health or safety from an immediate or imminent exposure to a hazard. A health and safety representative may direct a member of the work group to cease work on the same test. The guidance says this normally follows consultation with the PCBU and an attempt at issue resolution, but can come first where the risk is so serious and immediate that consulting is not reasonable, with consultation as soon as practicable afterwards.

Assessment in three stages

Following the Australian Institute of Occupational Hygienists, the Heat and UV page describes tier 1, a basic qualitative thermal risk assessment, with a pointer to the heat stress calculator built by Workplace Health and Safety Queensland; tier 2, a heat stress index such as predicted heat strain or thermal work limit; and tier 3, physiological monitoring supervised by an experienced medical practitioner, recommended where the allowable exposure time is under 30 minutes or specialised protective clothing is used. The factsheet shows the same three levels as a flow chart and sends assessments involving impermeable clothing such as PVC to level 3. The Heat and UV page also lists screening questions, among them whether workers can be exposed to temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius or high humidity. The regulator publishes control measures grouped by the hierarchy of control, from elimination to protective equipment; those lists are in the documents themselves.

Heat illness as the regulator describes it

The factsheet names heat rash, heat cramp, heat syncope, heat exhaustion and heat stroke, and describes a heat hangover as fatigue-like symptoms after repeated exposure to moderate to high temperatures. The page gives a high body temperature of 40 degrees Celsius for heat stroke and the factsheet says the body's temperature rises above 40 degrees Celsius. The page says heat discomfort is not a medical condition, and gives 23 to 26 degrees Celsius and 30 to 60 percent relative humidity as comfortable conditions for indoor light work. It lists contributing factors such as direct sunlight, reflected heat from roads and concrete, machinery heat, inadequate rest or water, clothing that does not breathe, medication and lack of acclimatisation.

The code of practice

The Managing the work environment and facilities Code of Practice is based on the Safe Work Australia model code and is approved under section 274 of the Work Health and Safety Act 2012 (SA). It commenced in South Australia on gazettal, June 4, 2020. Its foreword says codes are admissible in court, that another method giving an equivalent or higher standard can meet the duty, and that inspectors may refer to a code in an improvement or prohibition notice. Its contents list a heat and cold section, a drinking water section, an outdoor work section and a section on emergency plans.