Temperatures inside several police stations are verging on the inhumane and are in breach of EU laws governing workplace health and safety, the Malta Police Union has said. 

The union shared a photo of an officer’s smart watch displaying a temperature of 31.9°C, which it said was taken while inside an office at the St Julian’s police station on Friday. 

“This workplace is not adequate for human beings, due to the high temperature threat,” the union said as it cited the EU workplace health and safety directive

That EU law, passed in 1989, states that ’during working hours, the temperature in rooms containing workplaces must be adequate for human beings, having regard to the working methods being used and the physical demands placed on the workers’. 

Similar problems existed at the police force’s general headquarters as well as police stations in Żebbug, Marsascala, Marsa, Qawra and Mġarr in Gozo, the union said. 

The MPU - formerly the Malta Police Association - said that it has raised the issue with police administration, only to be told that problems would be resolved once a tender [for air conditioning units] was awarded and implemented. But this was not an acceptable solution, it said as it demanded an immediate resolution to the problem. 

“Summer comes every year and better planning could have avoided this inconvenience to our members, and the general public who also may make use of these premises,” it said as it challenged the police force to live up to its transformation strategy, which pledges to upgrade police officers’ working environment. 

This is the second heat-related union dispute to arise within the police force this summer, after a disagreement over whether or not officers out on patrol were allowed to wear official police baseball caps. 

That issue was resolved after the MPU filed an industrial dispute.  

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