Building contractors ask for heat delays to be freed from penalties

The Swiss Contractors' Association has launched a petition on the contractual consequences of extreme heat. It is asking that building sites not incur penalties when work slows because of heatwaves.

The association is calling for fair and realistic framework conditions during hot spells. Its demands are threefold: effective protection of workers' health, realistic completion deadlines, and clear rules on stoppages for extreme heat.

A gap in how delays are treated

The point raised concerns a difference in treatment. Delays linked to bad weather are already provided for in contractual practice. Those caused by extreme heat, by contrast, are only rarely taken into account for compensation or an extension of deadlines.

The consequence is that penalties can apply even when circumstances lie beyond the control of the firm and its workers. The association notes that companies are meanwhile under pressure from ever tighter schedules.

The question has a precise economic dimension. Halting work in the hottest hours protects the health of those working outdoors, but shifts the cost of the delay onto whoever is carrying out the job. As long as the contract does not cover that case, the firm must choose between the penalty and exposing its employees.

The subject has already reached parliament. A motion adopted by the National Council in December 2024 calls for federal measures so that natural factors are taken into account in work planning.

Its progress stopped, however, in the chamber of the cantons. In March 2025 the Council of States economic affairs committee said it shared the motion's objectives but recommended rejecting it. The reason given was that comparable measures were already under way through a round table with the social partners.

The association has not said how many signatures it intends to collect, or by when. Nor has it been specified which legal changes would be needed to introduce the rules requested.