Posted By robmotty All, As far as I can tell there is only the HSE ACOP pracitice on this one which states that it is resonable for offices to be between 40-70% (with computers). We are having a very difficult time in the office and the management here are now saying that a legal limit of 30% has been made? Is there a legal limit as I thought all we had was the ACOP with HSE. If there is a legal limit what is it and where so I find a copy? Thank you all in advance!

Posted By robmotty We work in a newly installed Air Circulation building and I have been taking daily (internal readings from set positons). I gather all the machines together once a month to maintain calibration. External supplier supplied thier readings to me about 3 months ago. The readings I constantly get are Ground floor: 22°C with 50-60% humidity First Floor: 26°C with 37-48% humidity The ground floor staff constantly complain about being cold from the Air Circulation system and the first floor are always too hot and are starting to devolp skin conditions in some areas. Whislt we have a management company in alot over this the new legal minimum I have been given by management of 30% just put me on the back foot as I had never seen this before.

Posted By Jay Joshi There is no "legal value" of humidity, although there may be values for diffrent environments from professional bodies such as CIBSE & ASHRAE HSE Termal Comfort Information on Humidity:- http://www.hse.gov.uk/te...mal/factors.htm#humidity There is an entire topic on the HSE website on thermmal comfort/temperature/humidity at:- http://www.hse.gov.uk/temperature/index.htm http://www.hse.gov.uk/te...rature/thermal/index.htm

Posted By safetyamateur "i was considering phoning the HSE, but as i work for the government, we are immune from prosecution??" In theory, no, seanie. In practice, you're probably right. Could never see a prosecution over these things anyhow. Despite people getting very, very angry about them.

Posted By robmotty Seanie I also work for the government and the imunity isn't quite right. Whilst the department maybe immune the senior manager for the building is no longer as safe. They can still be prosecuted and get a criminal record, whilst the government will be kind enough to pay for the solicitor and pay all cost including a fine- however the individual will have the criminal record. Tried to get that through to managers in my sphere who have tended to pass the to building owners etc. Someday in one office that buck will be tested on a manager then H&S maybe taken seriously by individuals. Rob

Posted By Chris Packham "...starting to develop skin conditions." Some time ago we carried out a study for a well known manufacturer of skin care products. We measured skin hydration levels in office workers. The outer layers of the skin require a certain level of hydration to function normally. Low levels of hydration are indicative of skin damage, albeit this may not yet be visible to the naked eye. If the level of hydration drops below a certain level then almost certainly irritant contact dermatitis will occur. What we found was that those working in air conditioned offices nearly always had a lower level of skin hydration than those in offices where there was no air conditioning. Almost certainly this was due to the low relative humidity from the air conditioning system. Note that in the winter the lower humidity tends to lead to a reduction in skin hydration, making the skin more vulnerable. Actually one needs a higher level of natural skin lipids in the winter to counteract this, but the glands that produce these actually produce up to one third less in the winter. This accounts for the finding that with outdoor workers occupational contact dermatitis is most common in winter months. And we are now in September!! Irrespective of legal requirements, etc., 30% is certainly not conducive to good skin condition. I suspect that if we were to measure skin hydration in some of your workers we would find lower than normal levels. Chris