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Posted By MICHAEL T
Sorry to bring this this up again, but we have recently taken over a company who do not have the luxury of air-con. We are looking to put this in, but I am getting comments like "As you are aware a new law was brought in last year stating that if the temperature went over 30 degrees the staff could literally walk out and go home". Have I missed something, or is this another urban myth??
Regards
Mike
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Posted By Paul Leadbetter
Mike
I am not aware of anything and a quick search on the OPSI site didn't find anything.
Paul
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Posted By Phillipe
Hi
Regulation 7 of the Workplace Regs still applies and will do until trade unions and other lobbyists get their way by introducing a maxmimum temp.
It is all down to what is considered reasonable. Last year temperatures exceeded 36 degrees. No matter how you look at it, that is unreasonable in a general office environment.
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Posted By Tabs
What did happen was that an EHO decided that a particular workplace was too hot and required action.
My memory fails me, but searching these forums will give you more.
Still not law, just a singular occurrence that cannot set precedence.
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Posted By Ian Dale
So far as I am aware there is still no upper limit - you cannot freeze your staff but you can boil them!!
However the note about 30°C may refer to the guidance published by the HSE in 1999 (Thermal comfort in the workplace) where it states that an acceptable zone of comfort for most people in the UK lies roughly between 13°C and 30°C. We would certainly expect considerable numbers of complaints if the temperature was much above 26°C.
Ian Dale
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Posted By AHS
The HSE/EHO enforce this with the same gusto as room dimensions. Its easier to lobby management with a petition and the incentive of increased productivity/less stress related time off.
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Posted By Paul Durkin
Hi,
Phillipe is correct, the trade unions are currently very active on this topic. Two examples although not office are:
ASLEF:Advising its members of a max. in train cabs of 27degC
NUT:Their guide advises that 26degC should be the trigger to implement temp. reduction measures.
Regards, Paul
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Posted By Jay Joshi
The issue with thermal comfort is that temperature on its own is not relaiable measure. Relative humidity and air movement also contribute. I very much doubt that there can be a prescriptive solution to this.
That does not mean that nothing should be done to improve thermal comfort.
You can be more comfortable at 30 degrees C with air movement (celing fan?) and 60 % relative humidity than at 22 degrees C, no air movement and 95% relative humidity
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