Heat at work: heat protection plan, employer duties and cooling for your crew

Since 1 January 2026, Austria has a Heat Protection Ordinance. In Germany, workplace rule ASR A3.5 and a recommendation of the Committee for Workplaces (ASTA) set when employers should and must act on heat at work. This page covers what the law requires, what belongs in a heat protection plan and where Liquid Ice fits: as one measure among several, not as a substitute for shade, water and breaks.

What the law requires

Austria: Heat Protection Ordinance for outdoor work in heat

Reference: Hitzeschutzverordnung (Hitze-V), Federal Law Gazette BGBl. II No. 325/2025, in force since 1 January 2026.
Scope: outdoor work at workplaces, construction sites and external work sites with heat from the sun or UV radiation. Short-duration work is exempt.
Trigger: a GeoSphere Austria heat warning of level 2 or higher (caution, yellow). That corresponds to a felt temperature of 30 to 34 °C.
Heat protection plan: the employer assesses the hazards (workload, duration, clothing and PPE, acclimatisation, vulnerable people), sets a programme of measures with emergency measures and involves the workforce. The plan must be accessible to all employees and the labour inspectorate, on paper or electronically.
Measures named in the ordinance: first avoid the hazard, for example by moving working hours; then technical measures (“shading of workplaces, water misting and spraying, showers”), organisational and personal measures, including “cooling clothing” and drinking enough.
Also: drinking water at external work sites too, UV-protective clothing, instruction, crane cabins that can be cooled (existing ones from 1 June 2027) and air conditioning in newly purchased self-propelled machinery on construction sites.
Agriculture and forestry: a separate ordinance, LF-Hitze-V, BGBl. II No. 45/2026, with the same trigger.
Municipalities: the Employee Protection Act (ASchG), and with it the Hitze-V, does not apply to employees of the Länder and municipalities outside enterprises. Check the protection law for your authority.
Indoors: § 28 AStV sets 19 to 25 °C for light and 18 to 24 °C for normal physical work. Without air conditioning, other measures to lower the temperature must be exhausted in summer.
Construction: hours above 32.5 °C in the shade count as bad weather. The company decides, after hearing the works council, whether work stops. Workers receive 60 % of their wage, which BUAK refunds to the company.

Germany: risk assessment, ASR A3.5 and the ASTA heat recommendation

Core duty: every employer assesses hazards, including heat, derives measures and documents this before work starts. This also applies to municipal authorities.
Indoor workrooms (ASR A3.5): the air temperature should not exceed 26 °C. Above 26 °C measures should, above 30 °C they must be taken, technical and organisational before personal ones, and drinks provided. Above 35 °C the room is not a suitable workroom without measures as for heat work, such as air showers or water curtains.
Outdoor work (ASTA heat recommendation of 21 Aug 2025): the yardstick is the assessment temperature: air temperature plus surcharges for heavy work (+4 °C), protective clothing with PPE (+3 to +4 °C), full sun (+5 °C) and sultry air (+3 °C), minus wind (−2 to −3 °C). Above 26 °C measures should, above 30 °C they must be taken, above 35 °C the work is treated as heat work. Example: 29 °C air, heavy work and full sun give 38 °C. Workplace rule ASR A5.1 refers to this recommendation for heat; it carries no presumption of conformity like an ASR.
Construction sites: drinking water or another alcohol-free drink must always be available near the workplaces.

Heat protection plan: 10-point checklist

Ten points every heat protection plan needs, for Austria and Germany:

Name who checks warnings, implements measures and checks they happen.
Map tasks: workload, sun exposure, clothing and PPE, heat sources such as asphalt or excavation pits.
Know who is most at risk: older, pregnant and pre-ill employees, new starters and returners.
Set triggers and check them daily: heat warning level 2 in Austria; 26, 30 and 35 °C in Germany.
Organise shade: sun sails, tents, cool break areas.
Move heavy work to the morning, rotate tasks, plan short cool-down breaks.
Provide drinking water close to the work and fixed drinking breaks.
Plan acclimatisation: increase the workload over 7 to 14 days.
Equip people: head and neck protection, UV clothing, cooling clothing such as cooling vests, cooling towels or a moistened neck protector.
Set the emergency procedure, instruct, make the plan accessible and review after the summer what worked.

Measures against heat at work

Both countries set the order: first avoid the hazard, then technical, then organisational, personal last. Austria calls it the STOP principle, Germany the TOP principle. In practice you need a combination.

Technical

Sun sails and tents, water misters and air showers, fans, cooled break containers and cabins, showers.

Organisational

Heavy work in the morning, lifting aids, job rotation, many short breaks in the shade, drinking breaks, acclimatisation, no lone working.

Personal

Drink regularly, airy UV-protective clothing, helmet with neck protection, sunglasses, sunscreen and cooling clothing. This is where Liquid Ice comes in.

Heat protection on site, in the warehouse and at the depot: where Liquid Ice fits

Liquid Ice is a cooling liquid that cools by evaporation. You spray it on tight-fitting clothes such as the shirt or headband, from a warm bottle. Or you wear it in pre-soaked bands and bandages: a thin band under the helmet, as long as the helmet still fits properly, or a bandage on the wrist. An independent institute measured 5.8 °C cooler skin, still cooling after two hours.

Cooling with water and wet fabric is already in the rules: Austria's ordinance names water misting, spraying and cooling clothing, the labour inspectorate cooling neck cloths, Germany's ASTA recommendation the moistened neck protector. Liquid Ice puts evaporative cooling on the fabric your people already wear.

For whole crews, Liquid Ice comes in 25 or 50 litre canisters. Fill spray bottles and re-spray bands from them, on site, in the warehouse or at the depot. No power, no ice, no fridge. A Lamborghini Super Trofeo team runs the 50-litre canister trackside for drivers and crew, and the US Marines rated Liquid Ice 9.1 out of 10 in a field test. Liquid Ice is produced in Austria.

What Liquid Ice is not: a substitute for shade, drinking water, breaks and an emergency plan, or proof that your business complies with the ordinance. It is a personal measure you list in your risk assessment next to the others.

Frequently asked questions about heat protection at work

At what temperature does an employer have to act on heat?

In Austria, for outdoor work, from GeoSphere Austria heat warning level 2, which is a felt temperature of 30 to 34 °C. In Germany, measures should be taken above 26 °C and must be above 30 °C, indoors by air temperature (ASR A3.5), outdoors by assessment temperature (ASTA recommendation).

Is a heat protection plan mandatory?

In Austria, yes, for outdoor work: a programme of measures with emergency measures that employees and the labour inspectorate can see. In Germany, a documented risk assessment is mandatory. The ASTA recommendation suggests communicating its results as a company heat protection plan.

Is there a heat day off on construction sites?

In Austria, hours above 32.5 °C in the shade count as bad weather. The company decides, after hearing the works council, whether work stops; workers receive 60 % of their wage, and BUAK refunds this to the company. In Germany, ASR A3.5 and the ASTA recommendation name no temperature at which work automatically stops. Above 35 °C, measures as for heat work are needed.

What counts as cooling clothing, such as a cooling vest for work?

Austria's labour inspectorate names cooling vests, cooling caps and cooling neck cloths, and its checklist also cooling towels. Germany's ASTA recommendation lists cooling vests and headwear with a moistened neck protector. In both countries, personal measures come after technical and organisational ones.

Does Liquid Ice fulfil the Heat Protection Ordinance?

No, no single product fulfils the ordinance. What is required is a hazard assessment and a plan with several measures. Liquid Ice is one personal measure in it: a cooling liquid that cools by evaporation on clothing, band or bandage. Measured 5.8 °C cooler skin, still cooling after two hours. Water, shade and breaks remain mandatory.

How do you supply a whole crew?

With the canister: 25 or 50 litres, used to fill spray bottles and re-spray bands. It cools straight from a warm bottle, without power. Terms come in writing after a short call.

Samples for your crew

Tell us how many of your people work in the heat. We'd like to send you some samples to test and call you to go through canisters, bottles and bands for your heat protection plan. Terms come in writing after the call.

Write to hello@liquidice.com or use the contact form. More on the measurement: the proof. For sport instead of work: sport in the heat.