Air - conditioning in open-plan office

[Cyril Haearn]

Another reason I love these fora - can get advice..

I thought I would collapse of heat exhaustion at work today

The windows can be opened but the co-workers keep them closed most of the time, they assert opening the windows lets heat in
I think opening the windows allows air to circulate, it feels much better/cooler as soon as they are opened
Unfortunately I sit far from the windows and am low in the pecking-order
I would have the windows wide open all the time

What can I do? Are there rules and legislation? What is a suitable maximum temperature?

I don't mind suffering a bit, I like sweating, but it is affecting my ability to think

What can I do?

Thanks for any suggestions and tips, diolch yn fawr iawn

[661-Pete]

I don't know if I can be much help here, but I remember that, years ago when I too was working in a non-air-conditioned office, with the same problem during a summer heatwave, the company instigated flexible office hours, with one shift starting at 6am. It was either that, or face a mass walk-out by staff. Sometimes blackmail is the only way...

I think I did take advantage of the 6am start, on a few occasions.

I don't think there is any legislation that sets a maximum working temperature for office environments. There ought to be.

Much depends on how secure your position at your workplace is, and what your alternative employment prospects are. You could politely suggest to your line manager, that you are considering a move elsewhere unless something is done about the office temperature...

[Cyril Haearn]

The office is air-conditioned, allegedly (quite unnecessary IMHO)

Shift work, night shift alone? Actually we are allowed to start at 6oo but I could not get up early enough. Working late might be better, start at 14oo

I am a cyclist, at home I put on warm things and try to avoid using the heating, I am not quite normal

Not much chance of a mutiny, I fear I am the only one that finds it so uncomfortable. Did wonder today if I could retire soon, but I plan to work a few more years unfortunately

[colin54]

Have you thought of buying a fan,or asking for one, it's surely in the firm's interest for it's workers to be

comfortable for efficiency's sake if nothing else.I worked in an office with suspended ceilings and no

daylight ,horrible.

[Thornyone]

Did wonder today if I could retire soon, but I plan to work a few more years unfortunately

Retire asap or find an outdoor job? I used to work in a hospital and always found it too warm and returning to work after the weekend was always purgatory, since almost immediately on entering the building I would feel as if I had a fluey cold coming on. Being in control of my atmosphere is one of the best things about being retired (along with greatly-reduced stress levels).

[bogmyrtle]

Enclosed workplaces with a couple of exceptions are required to be ventilated with sufficient fresh or purified air. It is the responsibility of the employer to make effective and suitable provision for this to happen. Windows that open could be adequate depending on the building and its occupancy.
The temperature in workplaces is required to be "reasonable" and there should be a thermometer available so that staff can what the temperature is.
Basically the law is saying whatever the outdoor conditions, the indoor environment should be comfortable for employees to work effectively.
There probably isn't a large office where all of the staff are happy all of the time but nobody should be so uncomfortable they feel they can't work.
Pecking order shouldn't come into it.

There should be an appointed person who deals with health and safety within the business. Does your employer have a health and safety poster displayed? If so the name of the person with responsibility should be named on there.
As an employee your employer is required to take any of your health and saftety concerns seriously.
The legislation is the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992.
If all else fails, try asking for more frequent breaks and a good supply of drinking water and maybe a fan.
Good luck.

[Cyril Haearn]

There is a health and safety person I believe

I really want to suffer in silence but it gets too much and I cannot think, I fear I will explode

Being the odd one, I believe the only one is of course a big problem, I am near the bottom of the pecking order. I had hoped this would be my last full-time job, for 6-8 years

Drinking plenty of course and I retreat to the toilet occasionally for a few minutes to relax and look at my photos

[Spinners]

I sympathise with you. On one of the really warm days last week (mid-20's at lunchtime) I had a 1-2-1 meeting with my boss just after lunch. As soon as I walked in I knew an electric fire was on... {FFE - family-friendly edit }! I politely asked him would he mind if I turned it off and his reply was. "Yes, I do mind".

[Cyril Haearn]

There is a health and safety person I believe

I really want to suffer in silence but it gets too much and I cannot think, I fear I will explode

Being the odd one, I believe the only one is of course a big problem, I am near the bottom of the pecking order. I had hoped this would be my last full-time job, for 6-8 years

Drinking plenty of course and I retreat to the toilet occasionally for a few minutes to relax and look at my photos

Electric devices (fan) might be allowed after being tested but that would be a good way to start conflicts with my sisters and brothers (colleagues) %+)

I think 16 or maybe 12°C would be a good temperature, anyone can wear more clothes if they want but I dare not protest by going nearly naked (the full monty)

I just want to get on with my work and go home

[661-Pete]

Have you thought of buying a fan,or asking for one

I'm remembering some more things now. I had a fan on my desk, which I guarded jealously (I think, any colleague coming along and trying to half-inch my precious fan - that would have been grounds for justifiable homicide... ). I remember, I carefully secured the mains lead of the fan in the slot down a leg of my desk, to make it difficult for anyone to remove.

Well. One day we were told that some Big Cheeses from the Stateside arm of the company, were due to pay us a visit. Or possibly it was the ISO9000 auditors? I can't quite remember. Whatever, a memo was sent around: "All desks to be tidied up, and all fans to be removed". Understandably, I protested most vociferously against this last, but I couldn't fight the powers-that-be, of course. So I duly put away my fan, and replaced it with a large piece of paper stuck to my desk, with the word FAN written on it in large letters and an arrow pointing to where the fan used to be. This too I was ordered to remove, with the injunction "Stop being stupid Pete". Ah well! At least I was allowed to reinstate the fan once the Big Cheeses had done their rounds...

I wonder what's become of that fan, since. Years later, we did finally get our A/C installed, and the fan became less of a necessity. But I still kept it as a sort of memento. When I retired it probably went in the skip - by then it was getting a bit creaky....

[661-Pete]

Cyril Haearn, reading through your posts I can only surmise, as before, that you're in the wrong job. No-one deserves to be treated at work in the way you say you are. Not by colleagues; not by Management.

[bogmyrtle]

There is a health and safety person I believe

I really want to suffer in silence but it gets too much and I cannot think, I fear I will explode

Being the odd one, I believe the only one is of course a big problem, I am near the bottom of the pecking order. I had hoped this would be my last full-time job, for 6-8 years

Drinking plenty of course and I retreat to the toilet occasionally for a few minutes to relax and look at my photos

Electric devices (fan) might be allowed after being tested but that would be a good way to start conflicts with my sisters and brothers (colleagues) %+)

I think 16 or maybe 12°C would be a good temperature, anyone can wear more clothes if they want but I dare not protest by going nearly naked (the full monty)

I just want to get on with my work and go home

Surely a desktop fan shouldn't cause conflict.

[Cyril Haearn]

Cyril Haearn, reading through your posts I can only surmise, as before, that you're in the wrong job. No-one deserves to be treated at work in the way you say you are. Not by colleagues; not by Management.

It is not so much nastiness, I prefer it cooler than others, and I think the air con (€€€!) does not work properly, away from the windows the air is worse

Have not talked to the management yet
Maybe I could show them these comments, does the GDPR allow that?

It is great to have support and suggestions from my fellow cyclists, thanks a million

[Cyril Haearn]

Problem is, I seem to be the only one..

There are automatic blinds too, they all go up or down at once at a dozen windows
No-one can control them individually

[Cyril Haearn]

There is also one light switch for the entire office, a light is right above my head, it is too bright
If a desk is not occupied for a while (10 minutes) the light above it goes off
Others who do not sit directly under a light are lucky

Wonder what such a clever system cost