subject: Air Conditioning Integral to Health and Safety [print this page] Air Conditioning Integral to Health and Safety
Health and Safety legislation across the UK comprises the Health and Safety at Work Act and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. These are the standards that must be met to ensure the health and safety of all employees and others who are affected by any work activity.
Ensuring employees are comfortable in their work has put pressure on business owners to satisfy the ever increasing health and safety rules in terms of business premises kept within the required temperatures, to maximize work output.
The workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations of 1992 require employers to take steps to ensure that a comfortable temperature is maintained, but at present, there is no prescribed maximum temperature for educational establishments. The World Health Organization states that the optimum indoor temperature is between 18 and 24 degrees centigrade, but the teachers union wants an agreed limit of 24 degrees centigrade, as the cut-off point for lowering room temperatures in the classroom.
The summer sun can make everyone uncomfortably hot, to add to this discomfort poorly ventilated spaces can turn nice weather into a nightmare rather than a blessing, but installing air conditioning can certainly help to cool down stuffy workplaces, households, and classrooms into a comfort zone.
Global warming has seen a steady upturn in the temperatures we experience in the UK, and our summers are getting hotter and hotter, and up till now air conditioning in the home is sometimes seen as a luxury around the UK. However businesses have cottoned on to the fact that to adhere to rules and regulations of health and safety in the workplace air conditioners need to be installed more and more frequently, thus the units are becoming more affordable and make a huge difference to the level of comfort experienced by all.
Heat waves when they come can certainly be disruptive in schools and colleges. Very few of the UK's school buildings are designed for heat waves and the premises are sometimes also poorly ventilated. This, coupled with high temperatures can make for restless pupils, with an inability to concentrate which at critical times of the year can affect exam results.
In the UK we do not often experience dramatic extremes in temperature which of course is great news for schools, colleges and universities, however when we do get a really hot period, some organizations will invest in portable air conditioners, which can be used during extreme conditions also keeping costs to a minimum.
A spokesman for Climachill air conditioning specialists in Sussex said "air conditioning is our business, and we have a wealth of experience of installing air conditioning units into all sorts of commercial premises, offices, schools, shops, Doctor and Dental surgeries. Also domestic installation is rising rapidly and we do a lot of work with portable air conditioning, we advise customers on what is the best option for them, we do not just grab the money and run. Visit our website and get an idea of what is on offer".
Air conditioning is certainly integral to healthy and safety, keeping a room at the recommended temperature to get the best out of personnel, makes good business sense.
For further information visit: www.climachill.co.uk
