We had a power outage on site today as a result of which a number of issues were brought to my attention by the shop floor workforce. Mainly that they should have been sent home after 4 hours without hot water and because they were unable to heat drinks or food, and that it was illegal to keep them on site beyond that time (the power had been off since 1030) We have 4 very large workshops which can not be heated, therefore the average temperature today would have been around 5 degrees C. Is there a time limit that an employer can expect its workforce to remain on site waiting for the power to come back on (it still hadn't by the time staff were allowed to go home at 1500) I know that there is specific regulation governing amenities on site, but am unaware of any giudance as to what action should be taken in the event of power failure) Any information would be greatly appreciated as I would like to sort out a procedure for site to adopt should we find ourselves in a similar position.

Also without knowing the type of industry etc, number of affected personnel ,was there any specific reason for keeping them on site? Would it not be possible to bring in hot drinks , food from an external source On top of what has already been said above , was there any Hazards created by the sudden loss of power Lots of food for thought ,on the plus side mabbe you have been handed a golden oppurtunity to implement some new systems