Health and safety
Working in excess of contracted hours should be kept to a minimum wherever possible. This is in the interests of health and safety and the well-being of our employees.
When authorising overtime, managers need to be aware of health and safety and any potential risks, especially:
- fatigue - excessive overtime may make employees tired. This may then pose a risk to themselves or others. Line managers should carry out risk assessments and take any necessary steps to eliminate or minimise them.
- breaks - employees required to work for more than six continuous hours are entitled to an unpaid rest break of 20 minutes within that six hours. Staff under the age of 18 are entitled to take an unpaid 30 minutes break if they work for more than 4.5 hours continuously.
- lone working - if working alone is necessary, managers must:
- check the employee does not have a medical condition making it unsuitable for them to work alone
- check the environment is safe
- carry out a lone working risk assessment
- Working Time Regulations - line managers are responsible for ensuring that the total hours worked do not exceed these Regulations. Adults (workers aged 18 and over) cannot lawfully be required to work more than an average of 48 hours a week. This includes multiple employment both with the County Council and other employers. We calculate the total over a rolling (or static) reference period of 17 consecutive weeks. An adult worker may 'opt-out' of the maximum 48-hour week. They must do this voluntarily and in writing. Use our working time opt-out form.
Employees and managers should ensure that:
- employees are entitled to 11 hours uninterrupted rest between each working day
- staff are entitled to one whole day off per week or two whole days off every two weeks. Only in exceptional circumstances should we request or permit staff not to have at least one whole day of relaxation per week
- employees aged 16 or 17 years cannot work for more than eight hours a day or 40 hours in any week, including overtime. Young workers are entitled to 12 hours uninterrupted rest between each working day and two days off each week
For further advice on this matter, contact your senior HR adviser.