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Ask Employment Law |
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Remember: There is no substitute for legal advice on the actual situation
you find yourself in. The information posted on this site is for general
information only, is based on |
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Question: |
Are Employers obliged
to keep a maximum and minimum working temperature in the office? |
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Answer: |
Some
employees suffer hot-house conditions in their office in the summer and have
frozen toes in the winter. Although
there are Health and Safety Executive Guidelines on indoor working
temperatures (see www.hse.gov.uk ) there
are no specific guidelines on the subject in employment law. The HSE reports
that under regulation 7 of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) the
temperature in indoor workplaces should be: ‘reasonable’. However, this will
depend on the nature of the workplace i.e. a bakery, a cold store, an office,
a warehouse. Guidance states that
‘‘The temperature in workrooms should provide reasonable comfort without the
need for special clothing. Where such a temperature is impractical because of
hot or cold processes, all reasonable steps should be taken to achieve a
temperature which is as close as possible to comfortable. 'Workroom' means a
room where people normally work for more than short periods.’ The
HSE does not appear to provide guidance on the maximum temperature for an
office in particular. It states that the temperature in workrooms should
normally be at least 16 degrees Celsius unless much of the work involves
severe physical effort in which case the temperature should be at least 13
degrees Celsius. These temperatures may not, however, ensure reasonable
comfort, depending on other factors such as air movement and relative
humidity. Where
the temperature in a workroom would otherwise be uncomfortably high, for
example because of hot processes or the design of the building, all
reasonable steps should be taken to achieve a reasonably comfortable
temperature, for example by: ·
insulating hot plants or pipes; providing air-cooling plant;
shading windows; siting workstations away from places subject to radiant
heat. Where a reasonably comfortable temperature cannot be achieved
throughout a workroom, local cooling should be provided. In extremely hot
weather fans and increased ventilation may be used instead of local cooling. ·
Where, despite the provision of local cooling, workers are
exposed to temperatures which do not give reasonable comfort, suitable
protective clothing and rest facilities should be provided. Where practical
there should be systems of work (for example, task rotation) to ensure that
the length of time for which individual workers are exposed to uncomfortable
temperatures is limited. There
is an implied term of every employment contract that the Employer provide a
safe system of working. Therefore if the working conditions were damaging to
the employee’s health the employer would be in breach of that implied
condition and in most extreme cases, the employee might be able to refuse to
attend the work place whilst their health and safety remained at risk (though
this would be unlikely if it were simply the case of a chilly or a hot
office). Employees
who find that their working environment is so uncomfortably hot as to affect
their health or productivity would be wise to raise a formal grievance with
their manager if informal approaches cannot sort it out. See
also our page on raising a grievance Last
reviewed: July 2010. |
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Employment
Solicitor Reculver Solicitors Tel
0207 324 6271 Regulated
by the Solicitors Regulation Authority ©
Reculver Solicitors. 2005- |
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