Top tips on handling heatwaves and protecting the club team

The 2026 hot spell has pushed the UK and Ireland into repeated heat warnings. Here is what it means for the people who keep your club running, and the one document that decides whether you are actually protected.

Compliance is expected, but the clubs that stand out hold themselves to a higher standard than the minimum. Both start in the same place. If your club has a hot weather risk assessment, the real question is whether your team has read it. During a heatwave, an assessment sitting in a folder protects no one. What keeps grounds staff, kitchen staff and members safe is an assessment every relevant person has seen, understood and acknowledged. Taking control of it does more than tick a box. It shows your team you take their wellbeing seriously, and it shows members the club is being run to a standard they can trust.

How dangerous is extreme heat, really?

Heat is often underestimated because the harm is quiet. It rarely makes the news the way a storm does, yet the numbers are stark. There have been 2,803 estimated excess deaths across England during the summer 2022 heat-periods, the highest figure since records for the Heatwave Plan began in 2004.

What does the law expect from your club?

More than many managers assume. Under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, every UK employer must assess the risks to workers, and the HSE is clear that extreme heat is one of them. In June 2026 the HSE reminded employers that heat is a hazard to be managed like any other, whether staff are indoors or outdoors, adding that “last summer should have been a wake-up call for all employers.”

There is no legal maximum working temperature in either country. That sounds like freedom, but it is the opposite. It means the responsibility sits squarely with your club to assess the risk and control it. In Ireland, the same duty applies under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005.

So the assessment is expected. The question the Health and Safety Authority, HSE, an insurer or a solicitor will actually ask is sharper.

A hot weather risk assessment only works if your team knows about it

This is the heart of it. A hazard written down does not make anyone safer. What makes people safer is the assessment reaching the person on the mower, in the kitchen and at the first tee, and being turned into actions someone owns.

That is the gap most clubs have. The document exists. Whether the greenkeeping team that starts at 5am has actually acknowledged it this season is a different matter. When something goes wrong, that gap is exactly where liability lives.

As James Clear observes, teams tend to “fall to the level of their systems” rather than rise to their goals. A hot weather policy is the goal. The system is what keeps it live at 6am on the third day of a heatwave, when the manager is not watching. Having a standard is not the same as holding to one.

Obbi Club survey data

72% of UK and Ireland clubs admit at least some of their checks, audits, certificates or training are not always fully up to date. And only 30% can produce the evidence instantly when someone asks for it. Source: Obbi Club Safery and Compliance Survey, 2024/25.

Six practical steps for this heatwave

None of these need a big budget. Most are drawn straight from HSE guidance and take an afternoon to put in place.

Reissue and re-acknowledge your hot weather risk assessment

Do not assume last year’s sign-off still counts. Push the current version to every relevant role and confirm they have read it before the next hot shift.

Shift outdoor work to cooler hours

Move the most physical grounds tasks to early morning or evening, and build in more frequent rest breaks in shade during peak heat.

Make water and shade non-negotiable

Provide cool drinking water on the course and in work areas, and encourage frequent small amounts. Set up shaded rest points for staff who cannot come indoors.