WORKING
TIME REGULATIONS
SECTION
3: WORKING AT NIGHT
- A night
worker is someone who normally works at least three hours at
night.
- Night time
is between 11pm and 6am, although workers and employers may
agree to vary this.
- Night workers
should not work more than eight hours daily on average,
including overtime where it is part of a night worker's normal
hours of work.
- Nightly
working time is calculated over 17 weeks. This can be longer
in some situations.
- A night
worker cannot opt-out of the night work limit
- Young workers should not ordinarily work at
night, although there are certain exceptions (please see Special
night work limits for Young Workers).
Employers
must check:
- Whether you employ people
who could be classified as night workers.
- How much working time
night workers normally work.
- If night workers normally
work more than eight hours a day on average, how they can reduce hours of work or whether any exceptions or
flexibilities apply [more].
- If a worker does work
which may be particularly hazardous.
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Mobile workers
Mobile
workers
are excluded from the night work limits.
Instead, they are entitled to ‘adequate rest’.
‘Adequate
rest’ means that workers have regular rest periods. These should be sufficiently long and continuous to ensure
that workers do not injure themselves, fellow workers or others
and that they do not damage their health, either in the short term
or in the longer term.
More
detailed information
What is
‘night time’?
Night time
is the period between 11pm and 6am, though employers and workers
can choose a different period. If they do, it must be at least
seven hours long and include the period from midnight to 5 am.
Who is
a night worker?
You will be a "night worker" if your daily working time includes
at least three hours of night time:
- on most days
you work;
- on a proportion
of the days you work which is specified in a collective or
workforce agreement; or
- often enough
for it to be said that you work such hours "as a normal
course".
The words "as
a normal course", means on a regular
basis. There has been a Court ruling that a worker who worked at night
for one third of his working time was a night worker. Further
clarification from the European Court is expected in due course.
Occasional, or ad hoc, work at night does not make you
a night worker.
Nightly working
time should be averaged out over a reference period, which is
usually 17 weeks. This period could be longer if agreed in a workforce
or collective agreement. Night work limits do not apply in the
special circumstances [more].
If workers
work less than 48 hours a week on average, they will not exceed
the night work limits.
The average
hours worked at night are calculated by dividing the number of
normal hours worked in the reference period – e.g. 17 weeks –
by the number of days in the period, after the number of rest
days which the worker has taken in relation to their entitlement
under the regulations has been subtracted.
Normal hours
of night work include overtime where it is part of a night worker's
normal hours of work.
| Example 1:
A night worker normally works
four 12-hour shifts each week.
The total number of normal
hours of work for a 17-week reference period is :
17 weeks of 4 shifts
of 12 hours
17 x (4 x 12) = 816
There are 119 days (17 weeks)
and the worker takes 17 weekly rest periods, as entitled
to under the regulations. Therefore the number of days
the worker could be asked to work is 119 - 17 = 102
To calculate the daily average
working time, the total of hours is divided by the number
of days a worker could be required to work.
This equals an average of
8 hours a day.
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| Example 2:
A
night worker normally works 5 days of 10 hours followed by
3 days of rest. The cycle starts at the beginning of the
reference period (so there are 15 cycles of work). The
worker takes 2 weeks’ leave and works 6 hours overtime
every five weeks. During this reference period, the
overtime is worked in the fifth, tenth, and fifteenth
weeks. The leave does not affect the calculation of normal
hours, but the overtime does.
15
cycles of 5 shifts of 10 hours = 15 x (5 x 10) = 750 hours
6
hours overtime x 3 = 18 = 768 hours (including overtime)
There
are 119 days (17 weeks) and the worker takes 17 weekly
rest periods, as entitled to under the regulations.
Therefore the number of days the worker could be asked to
work is: 119 - 17 = 102
To
calculate the daily average working time, the total of
hours is divided by the number of days a worker could be
required to work.
This equals an average of
7.53 hours a day.
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Special
hazards
Where a night
worker’s work involves special hazards or heavy physical or mental
strain, there is an absolute limit of eight hours on the worker’s
working time each day – this is not an average.
Work will
involve a special hazard if it is identified:
- as such
by agreement between an employer and workers in a collective
agreement or workforce agreement; or
- as posing
a significant risk by a risk assessment which an employer has
conducted under the Management of Health and Safety at Work
Regulations 1999.
Special
night work limits for Young Workers
Young
workers may not ordinarily work at night between 10pm and 6am, or
between 11pm and 7am if the contract of employment provides for
work after 10pm. However, exceptions apply in particular
circumstances in the case of certain kinds of employment, as set
out below.
Young workers may work throughout the night if they are employed
in:
or
in any of the following activities:
-
Cultural
-
Artistic
-
Sporting
-
Advertising
Young workers may work between 10 or 11pm to
midnight and between 4am to 6 or 7am if they are employed in:
-
agriculture
-
retail
trading
-
postal
or newspaper deliveries
-
a
catering business
-
a
hotel, public house, restaurant, bar or similar establishment
-
a
bakery
and
-
there
is no adult available to perform the task
- the
employer ensures that the training needs of the young worker
are not adversely affected
- the young worker is allowed an
equivalent period of compensatory rest
Young workers must be adequately
supervised where that is necessary for their protection.
Young workers in the film and television industry can expect to be
covered by the derogation from the night work limit, on the
grounds that night shooting, sometimes pre-scheduled, may be
required to "maintain continuity of production", and by
the very nature of the work, there would be no adult available to
perform the task. The young worker's training needs should not be
adversely affected and he should receive compensatory rest (see What
is compensatory rest?).
When
do these rules not apply?
What
to do if you are not receiving your rights as a worker
What
records do employers need to keep?
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