Posted By skooter1 Hi all, Can you help me with a question that was posed to me this after noon. How much space is required per person in an office? I have in my head that it should be 11 meters squared is that right. Can someone tell me or point me in the right direction. Many thanks. Scott

Posted By JWG I've also read somewhere that with the furniture you should be looking at at least 16 metres cubed per person. Don't forget, for the calculation, any ceiling height above 3 metres should be classed as 3 metres.

Posted By Ken Taylor Sorry, it's 1331 cubic metres - I should have hit the 'x' button twice (but it is the early hours of the morning here)! It would be useful to be able to amend one's own postings as you can on some other sites.

Posted By Bob Shillabeer The Workplace Health, Safety & Welfare Regulations 1992 Regulation 10 applies. Minimum space is required; this is defined as enough free space to allow people to get to and from workstations and to move the room with ease. The room available is not the only criteria, the number of people working in it is a key factor to consider. The total volume required is the total volume of the room (up to 3m) divided by the number of people who work there and must be a minimum of 11 cubic metres per person or put another way 3.7 square metres per person. If less than 3m high say 2.4 the floor area needed is 4.6 square meters and so on. The important thing to remember is that when furniture is added there may be a need for more space per person; this depends on the nature of the work undertaken for example if the work requires people to move around a lot more space is needed but if the work is desk bound such as a call centre the minimum would be 11 cubic meters plus comfort space. When assesing the available space I work on the vasis of 11 cubic meters plus additional space according to the activity being undertaken plus a couple of cubic meters. When assessing a meeting room which by the way does not demand the 11 cubic meters rule I work on the basis of how many can sit around the table and maintain a walkway of 1200mm all round. I find this makes the room comfortable enough for a meeting without becoming too stuffy.

Posted By J Knight Matthew, How many people in it? And does it have good access and egress, suitable lighting and ventilaition, and can people walk around it without banging into things or each other? John

Posted By matthew gibbs John Current suggestion is for ten staff. The scheme is still on the drawing board, but I thought before a problem arises it may be worth avoiding any issues. Due to site constraints, the floor to ceiling height is therefore likely to be 2.04m. There is one proposed access/egress door into adjoining protected stair well and one lift door Using all the criteria set out above, i have calculated room volumn of 117m3 (say 120m3 for ease of numbers). Based on 2m high ceiling, thats 5.5sqm per person (excluding furniture). However with furniture I anticipate that the space will only allow a about 8 people. Matt

Posted By Ken Taylor - and don't forget, the layout has to be such that it's safe to get to and from the places in the room where you have to work and to get out in the event of fire. Too many rooms look fine when empty but turn into tortuous nightmares when occupied and filled with furniture, etc.

Posted By David Bannister Hi Sharon, on the face of it the workspace appears to be too small for two persons, but as always, the Workplace Regs insert various "get out clauses." The ACOP uses "should" when talking about dimensions etc rather than "shall," the difference being that "shall" is an absolute duty, "should" is what is expected unless there are cast iron reasons not to. As far as lighting goes, natural light is preferred but only where reasonably practicable. Ventilation must be "suitable" which, again, is not much use. Sadly, the usual advice about risk assessment is the way to determine the way in which your workplace must be set up, rather than prescriptive Regulation. The Approved Code Of Practice to the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regs 1992 gives additional detail that should allow you to reach a reasoned conclusion on what (if any) changes must be made.

Posted By William it is section 10 of the workplace (health, safety and welfare regulations 1992) which applies to this, but it does exempt retail sales kiosks, attendants shelters, and also lecture meeting rooms. There should be a minimum of 11 cubic metres per person, and if the room is higher than 3 metres you will only be able to count the height as 3 metres and if there is alot of furniture in the area you will need to re-assess the workplace to take account of this, such as if you have several large filing cabinets you will have to take their dimensions into account and take that away from the rooms cubic size when assessing the room size.

Posted By William i can find no directive saying anything about one was passed but i did find a mention that the HSE revieved the workplace regs for the european commision in 2003 and concluded they were working well, so i would say that you would be best to abide by them.