Posted By Bobby Charlton Hi there In our office we had 2 large windows that allowed in plenty of fresh air, the 2 bosses have now built an smaller, "temporary" office at this end of the main room which has effectively bloced all the fresh air coming through. As a result the main room is really hot and with no air conditioning we are all feeling lethargic and many of us are getting headaches. What are the rules regarding this issue - is there a maximum temperature that's regarded as tolerable? My second issue is that as we are all software developers we spend all day (8.5 hours) looking at pc's. We had no breaks apart from 50 mins at lunch. The bosses have now decided to give us 10 mins in the morning and 10 mins in the afternoon so we can get a break from the monitors. This is all well and good apart from the fact that thay've knocked the 20 mins from our lunch break resulting in only 30 mins for lunch ... Again, could someone enlighten me on the rules about taking breaks. We must be allowed so many minutes every hour, but is there a minimum limit for a lunch break if we work 8.30 (9am - 5.30pm) Thanks for any help offered.

Posted By Hilary Charlton Agree with the previous respondent - sounds pretty Dickensian. We insist that our employees take 5 minutes from the computer screen every hour - this does not need to be a break but must be a break for the eyes - ie photocopying, filing, getting a cup of tea etc. The minimum break in an 11 hour period is 20 minutes. I believe that there are some guidelines regarding refresh rates for air in offices - you may want to have a check.

Posted By Thomas Kennedy Just a short note to add to the previous comments on your issue of workplace temperature. There is no statutory maximum temperature, but during working hours the temperature should be “reasonable”. Determining what a reasonable temperature is for a workplace is influenced by several factors. These include the: ambient temperature, relative humidity, air movement and ventilation, radiant heat, clothing worn and physical activity. There are various informal guides as to what is a comfortable working temperature. For example BS 7179 recommends an optimum temperature for offices where there is Display Screen Equipment as around 19-23 °C.