How hot is too hot to work? With in Newcastle, we've taken a look at the rules.
There isn’t actually a legally defined maximum or minimum temperature for the workplace.
The Health and Safety Executive, whic is responsible for the guidelines, says this would be unreasonable as some places can expect very high temperatures - for example glass works and foundries.
But assuming you DON’T work in a glass works or a foundry, here’s what it has to say...
The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 lay down particular requirements for most aspects of the working environment. Regulation 7 deals specifically with the temperature in indoor workplaces and states that:
"During working hours, the temperature in all workplaces inside buildings shall be reasonable."
The meaning of ‘reasonable’, of course, would be very different depending on the workplace.
The law does say that if "a significant number of employees are complaining about thermal discomfort" then it’s the employer’s responsibility to carry out a risk assessment, and act on its results.
The HSE says employers should base their assessment on the ‘thermal comfort’ of workers - they say thermal comfort "describes a person’s state of mind in terms of whether they feel too hot or too cold".
It adds:
Environmental factors (such as humidity and sources of heat in the workplace) combine with personal factors (ie your clothing) and work-related factors (how physically demanding your work is) to influence your ‘thermal comfort’.
Thermal comfort is very difficult to define as you need to take into account a range of environmental, work-related and personal factors when deciding what makes a comfortable workplace temperature.
The best that you can realistically hope to achieve is a thermal environment that satisfies the majority of people in the workplace. Thermal comfort is not measured by room temperature, but by the number of employees complaining of thermal discomfort. To better understand why room temperature alone is not a valid indicator of thermal comfort.
A HSE spokesperson said: “As an employer you should be aware of these risks and make sure the underlying reasons for these unsafe behaviours are understood and actively discouraged and/or prevented.”
The guidelines lay down the ‘six basic factors’ an employer should look at. They are air temperature, radiant temperature (ie, the temperature radiating from warm objects), air velocity, humidity, and what clothing or insulation workers are expected to wear.
They say: “The more physical work we do, the more heat we produce. The more heat we produce, the more heat needs to be lost so we don’t overheat. The impact of metabolic rate on thermal comfort is critical.”
