Legally to hot to work...

[spaced]

is there a law in this country that says if a office is too hoot or cold, employees must be sent home? Im sure there is a certain temperature we are allowed to work in.

[andrea_h]

Have a look at this Q from yesterday.

Apparently there is only a minimum but no maximum temp for working!!

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Body-and-Soul/Question246161.html

A xXx

[Skids]

There is no maximum working temperature, only a minimum of 13 degrees C (before you have to be given cold weather clothing).

[garethnash12]

in the uk the minimum working temp is 15 degrees celsius

[JSB]

The temperature in the workplace should normally be at least 16 degrees centigrade unless the work requires considerable physical effort, when it should be at least 13 degrees. These temperatures do not apply to rooms (or parts of rooms) where it would be impractical to maintain such temperatures, such as rooms which have to be open to the outside or where food has to be kept cold. In such cases, the temperature should be as close to 16 degrees (or 13 degrees) as is practical. A thermometer must be provided so that workers can check the temperature inside the building.

There is however no legislation which lays down a maximumtemperature for workplaces, although all employers must ensure that the temperature of the workplace does not have a detrimental effect on the health of the employees and all reasonable steps must be taken to achieve a comfortable temperature.

In practice though, many do little about this!

[oligopoly]

i did some temp work in a large nursery greenhouse a couple of years ago - must have been about 45 degrees!! maybe not breaking the law, but after an hour or two i certainly wanted to break something!

[smorodina]

There used to be a statutory minimum, but this was abolished in 1992 and replaced with a set of guidelines. While these cover both lower and upper temperatures, being guidelines they are not so easy to enforce. Unlike the old regulation they do, however, suggest an upper temperature of 30c.

''An acceptable zone of thermal comfort for most people in the UK lies roughly between 13�C (56�F) and 30�C (86�F), with acceptable temperatures for more strenuous work activities concentrated towards the bottom end of the range, and more sedentary activities towards the higher end.'

http://www.hse.gov.uk/contact/faqs/temperature.htm

http://www.usdaw.org.uk/faqs/healthsafety/1050613357_14130.html