When temperatures exceed 27 °C, court sessions in Andalusia are suspended

Andalusian courts may suspend their work this summer if the temperature in their work environment exceeds 27 degrees, as established in the air conditioning protocol drawn up by the Ministry of Justice, Local Administration and Public Functions within the regional junta.

This protocol sets out the guidelines for responding to extreme temperatures in the justice building, including suspending all on-site activities if cooling systems fail, the internal temperature reaches 27°C, and “the incident continues” because the fault cannot be corrected “immediately” or portable equipment cannot be installed as a temporary solution.

The aim of this protocol is to avoid heat stress for the staff who provide administrative support to the courts, explained Justice Minister José Antonio Nieto. He explained to the committee the procedure for taking the necessary organizational measures when the temperature in the court buildings is not sufficient to continue working.

In this way, in the event of a “breakdown” of the ventilation or air conditioning systems, individual employees, human resources departments, staff representatives or those responsible for health and safety at work can contact the Provincial General Secretariat for the Judicial Department of their jurisdiction directly to report the incident. The incident will then be immediately reported to those responsible for workplace maintenance services so that they can assess the malfunction and the expected time to resolve it within a maximum of 24 hours before taking a decision to suspend court operations.

If the repair cannot be carried out “immediately” or if portable air conditioning units are not available to “ensure an appropriate temperature” as per protocol, the incident will be referred to the Occupational Accident Prevention Department or will remain with maintenance so that they can monitor how long the temperature exceeds 27 °C before making the final decision to stop work.