When it comes to breaks in the office, the law is a minimum standard rather than a target. What’s more, the law can be a lot more nuanced than it might, at first, appear.

That said, knowing applicable laws is always a good place to start. With that in mind, here is a quick guide to the law and breaks.

Break times and requirements

In a standard 8-hour shift, an employee must have one 30-minute break and two 15-minute breaks. These can, however, be telescoped together to create a single, one-hour break. If employees work longer than the standard 8 hours, then they are entitled to additional breaks. The rules here can get more complex and can also be sector-specific (e.g. there are specific rules for HGV drivers).

The law explicitly requires employers to provide dedicated rest facilities for employees who perform arduous work. They must also provide somewhere women who are pregnant or nursing a place to go to lie down. Technically, the provision of additional rest facilities is optional. In practice, it would be risky to overlook these.

At the end of the day, you are legally required to take all reasonable steps to ensure a healthy and safe workplace. It is pretty much inevitable that people are going to fall ill and/or get injured from time to time. When they do, it may be best for everyone’s safety that they have a place they can at least rest and preferably lie down.

Access to water

Employees must be able to access clean, fresh water at all times. Drinking water must be clearly marked as such (even if it’s from a tap). The need to maintain cleanliness means that employers either have to use a water fountain or ensure that employees also have access to hygienic receptacles. In the old days, this used to mean plastic tumblers. Now it’s more likely to mean washable glasses or mugs.

If you are going to use washable receptacles, then you need somewhere to wash them. At a minimum, this means a sink. You may also want to think about providing a dishwasher as well. If you have a small office, then look for a “tabletop” option. You can even get portable dishwashers. These work in much the same way as the portable washing machines used in caravans.

The advantage of having a dishwasher is that it helps to eliminate friction over shared resources. If you just ask your employees nicely to take care of the break area, the chances are that some will cooperate better than others.

This can lead to resentment between colleagues and general management headaches. At the end of the day, the cleanliness of your work environment is your responsibility. Buying a dishwasher is generally a small investment that can make a big difference to your workplace.

Food and drink

In basic terms, employers must provide their employees with a place they can eat food without the risk of contamination. These facilities must be provided completely for free. The main implication of this is that you cannot insist that employees either purchase their food at an on-site canteen or go off-site. If the only eating space is a canteen, then there must be seating for employees who wish to eat their own food.

Canteens can be used as break rooms but only as long as hygiene can be maintained. In an office environment, this is unlikely to be a problem. In other environments, however, maintaining hygiene might require employees to change out of work clothes. This can be fine for a longer break e.g. a meal break but not convenient for a shorter one. In this case, you will need both an eating area and a rest area.

Employees must also have access to hot food. There is an easy and affordable way to satisfy this requirement. That is to have an on-site microwave. Depending on the size of the workplace, you may need more than one. You do not have to supply a fridge to hold food. You do, however, need to supply a fridge if a nursing mother requests it to express breastmilk.

Also, your general health-and-safety obligations may require you to provide a fridge to store certain medications. You could use the same fridge to store breastmilk, medicines and food but this could lead to other challenges.

One possible solution would be to buy a small fridge e.g. a “drinks fridge” for breastmilk and medicines. You might also wish to provide a separate fridge for food although this is not a legal requirement.

Breaks and health and safety

The law does set down some explicit requirements for breaks and break facilities. A lot, however, is left to an employer’s common sense, judgement and foresight. This is why explicit instructions should be regarded in much the same way as directions on a map. They’re generally very useful, even vital. They are not, however, the whole story.

In simple terms, you need to take all reasonable steps to keep your workplace healthy and safe. If that means going above and beyond what the law explicitly states, then that is what you need to do.

In the real world, that means recognizing that hard-working employees may become physically and/or mentally tired. In either case, they are likely to become more vulnerable to making mistakes.

In some cases, those mistakes can be dangerous. Even if they’re not, the fact that they’re mistakes means that they’re best avoided. Tired employees are also likely to find it more difficult to interact with other people be that customers or colleagues. They can therefore become more of a challenge to manage.

It can therefore be in everyone’s best interests for employers to go above and beyond the law and encourage their employees to take regular micro-breaks. These could be as frequent as every 90 minutes.

While you can’t force employees to use break time in any specific way, you can encourage them to use their breaks to promote their health. For example, you could provide a breakout space explicitly for wellness activities such as stretching, meditation and breathing exercises.