While Britain basked in sunshine with high temperatures last summer, workers and people confined to their homes sweltered in unbearably temperatures, in homes and offices without air conditioning, thus more and more people are asking can we live without air conditioning?.

 

Working environments in the UK are tightly regulated in many areas for the health and well being of employees, but still there is no legal maximum working temperatures in the UK.

 

While Britain basked in sunshine with high temperatures last summer, workers and people confined to their homes sweltered in unbearably temperatures, in homes and offices without air conditioning, thus more and more people are asking can we live without air conditioning?.

 

Working environments in the UK are tightly regulated in many areas for the health and well being of employees, but still there is no legal maximum working temperatures in the UK.

 

For years UK employers have protected their workers form the colder temperature scale, and it is breaking the law if a working environment of less than 16 degrees Celsius, or 13 degrees Celsius for manual workers, but unfortunately no such law exists for hotter temperatures, and although the Health and Safety Executive has acknowledged that working temperature is ‘an issue’ a working environment can be very hot and employees still can not legally enforce change in terms of air conditioning, purely because the Health, Safety and Welfare regulations 1992 states only that working temperatures should be ‘reasonable’.

 

It is a known fact that a sweltering workforce is not a happy one, also unbearable hot conditions cause a lack of concentration, stress and exhaustion, and this of course can lead to accidents such as trips and slips, furthermore a marked reduced productivity and clarity of thought.  It has also been reported that irritability caused by extreme heat can raise incidences of violence in the workplace.

 

The World Health Organization currently recommends a maximum temperature of 24 degrees Celsius for the health and happiness of workers and due to continued pressure from various bodies; the Government will certainly have to review its regulations in the future.

 

It is certainly worth investing in air conditioning units, for both the home and working environment, in a home especially where the elderly reside is a must to stop them from heat exhaustion and heat stroke, also a positive move for the sick and infirm, and of course common sense tells that a workforce’s productivity will not meet optimum level in extreme heat, this seems a small price to pay for the comfort of all.

 

A spokesman for Climachill a family owned and run business specializing in air conditioning said, “we install air conditioning systems throughout Sussex and surrounding areas, for UK Army and US Army, Doctor Surgeries, Offices, Dental Surgeries, Restaurants, retail shop floors, schools and many more domestic and commercial customers, we believe that professionalism and safety is a top priority, and as part of that we are fully qualified and fully insured, but more importantly we fully understand that after sales support is actually more important than the initial sales process”.  He went on to say “after installing an air conditioner you want to know that if a fault should develop you will receive prompt service and the fault is corrected swiftly and professionally”.

 

The question remains can we live without air conditioning?, the changing climates would dictate NO, our summers are getting hotter, and to be totally comfortable in the home and workplace, the installation of air conditioning is becoming a must in the UK.

 

For further information visit:  www.climachill.co.uk