Dress Code in the Summer.
With today threatening to be the hottest day of the year and temperatures rumoured to be reaching 34C, have you reconsidered the dress code for your staff?
Legally, although the workplace has to be of a minimum of 16C or 13C if strenuous effort is involved there is no upper limit for workplace temperatures. This is due to a multitude of factors, quoting the HSE ( Health Safety Executive ) website, â€ÂThis is because the factors, other than air temperature which determine thermal comfort, i.e. radiant temperature, humidity and air velocity become more significant and the interplay between them more complex as temperatures rise.’
Most modern buildings will have air conditioning so temperatures outside shouldn’t affect the working environment inside, but for the plethora of older buildings that many workers will occupy, fans or â€Âcomfort cooling’ may be as good as it gets but in the balmy temperatures we have been experiencing over the last few weeks that may not be much of a solution.
Innovative individuals that we are though, there are always other options to cool yourself down if your office is just too hot to be comfortable in and all that creaky fan is doing that the management supplied is recirculating the arid, warm air, fear not………..take a lead from the staff at Plymouth City Council. The article below made it into one of the Daily Tabloids:
Plymouth City Council issued a “polite reminder” saying staff “shouldn’t be showing too much flesh, and flip flops are a definite no-no”.
It added: “This is a business environment and we expect people to wear appropriate clothing.”
A spokesman for union Unison said: “Members report they are uncomfortably hot despite the provision of fans, which are merely serving to move hot air around their workplace.”