to make a huge fuss about 36 celcius in office?

[50BalesOfHay]

Just that really. It's horrid, I could hardly breathe. No window, fam just stirs the soupy air. I'm late menopausal so struggle with heat anyway, but I just can't cope with it. Wibu to insist that work hire an air con unit, or I won't work there?

I think those of us in gainful employment should be preety bloody pleased to have jobs.

DO you think the high temperatures are your boss's fault?

Why don't you buy your own desk fan?

Pretty, not preety. I need to make use of the "Preview" function.

Preety is the way Larry David pronounces it. I'm sure he'd complain about the heat and stuff being grateful for employment.

BINGO! House!

There you go OP. You have a job so stop complaining and get fucking working.

The high temperatures aren't the boss' fault, but they have a choice in how to deal with them to make sure their employees are reasonably comfortable. Especially when they themselves have the benefit of air conditioning!

My boss sits opposite me, so if I'm hot, he's hot and he has to listen to my moaning about.

Oh my mistake it's not house until someone says you should be grateful for the heat because they live in an igloo. Or something.

?? ABF.

Yes, but is it 'gainful' employment ABF?

If she was Director of Blow Jobs in a Manila whorehouse, would OP have the right to complain?

I actually work in a tin box with large glass windows on one side. Even in the winter (in Scotland) if it is sunny it is unbearable. Apparently it was horrific yesterday. I am due in tomorrow and if it's that hot I will leave- I'm rubbish in the heat it makes me faint. If I were you I would tell them the heat is making you ill and go home.

Of course, she is a director after all!

Why the fancy little question marks UnicornPoo?

OP why don't you nip out to the shops and buy a small desk fan - they're cheap. If you had a decent manager he/she would organise this for the office - but it sounds like you don't.

True, and I was forgetting that being director she'd probably have air-con.

Someone could offer a job where there are no wages but they give you a bowl of gruel and let you sleep under the desk, thus saving you food and accommodation costs. It would solve the housing crisis too. Bingo.

Don't bother with a small desk fan, get a big stand up one - they are about £30.
If the company refuse to stretch to a few fans, remove all your clothes and drip sweat on the CEO. unless you ARE the CEO

I worked in a fancy new office block entirely made of glass. The air conditioning wasn't really up to it.

We had desk fans until a directive went round ordering us to remove them from our desks citing unspecified Health and Safety rules but I suspect was because the proprietor thought it made the office look messy. Most of the employees looked a bit shabby too because he didn't pay us enough to look smart.

I used to lock mine in a drawer every night until one day when people from Maintenance came and said they'd been authorised to remove it. I had an undignified stand-off that I lost.

I think they'd only go for that if they threw a pillow in with the package. I always like something soft to rest my head on after a nice bowl of gruel.

Most HVAC (heating, ventilation and Air Conditioning) in modern british buildings is designed to operate at temperatures below 30 degrees. Some even less. There is very likely nothing anybody can do to reduce the temperature is your office.

However you may like to try closing blinds on the eastern face of the building in the evening to reduce the solar gain from early morning sun before most people get into the office.
Encourage people to turn off their computers at the end of the day or when not in use.
Speak to your facilities management person, ask if there is any one complaining that they are too cold (even on the hottest day this will happen!).Or anyone who may have complained previously which resulted in very high set temperatures for FCUs (Fan coil units).

For those that suggest opening windows, that may cause more problems due to the increased carbon monoxide levels when you are above a busy road.

If you have to go into an office at temperatures that high I recommend running cool water over your wrists when you feel too hot, also patting water onto the back of your neck. This will help cool you quite quickly.

OP don't you realise there are people working in temperatures of 100 degrees for 48 hours on the trot with no chairs to sit on, and unemployed people who would kill to have to be able to afford a fan or have any-kind-of-office-at-all to sit in, never mind the temperature. And there you are; moaning and complaining because you have to sit on your arse in a measly 36 degrees!

YANBU, by the way, and some of the posts on this thread are ridiculous.

I work in an office that is based in a converted house (think victorian), and it is horribly hot. We've got all the windows open and blinds closed but it's still like working in a swamp. What's worse is that the minute someone with the most horrendous BO (and it's hot, so I'm judging less than usual, we all kind of smell) is sat directly in front of the fan. So his smell is just wafting round the office

Many years ago I worked (as a contractor) in a government office, at that time they had a rule that everyone could go home if the temperature got too high, think "too high" meant something like 28.

In another office I had the window seat which was great except for the few days a year when it was boiling.

I used to keep the blinds closed nearly all the time on those days.

The person who sat behind me asked me to open them and when I explained why I wouldn't, complained to our boss that I was aggravating his claustrophobia. She ignored him.

He just wanted my seat because you could stare out of the window instead of the back of someone else's head like a galley slave.

Well, I've done years in offices. I'm too tough to give up my privileges that easily.

You win hopalong

I gave up my window seat this year; I had to really I swapped my much hated job for a much better. There was the trade off of losing the window seat, at the time it seemed a small price to pay.

As many have said, there is no legal max. However, employers have a general duty of care to employees, under the 1974Act and I'd suggest that reasonable temperature fits there, if you need to have a conversation with your boss.

Duty of care in heat might mean installing aircon, providing fans, allowing extra breaks, providing a fridge to ensure people had access to cool drinks, relaxing the dress code, allowing flexible working.

I used to work for HSE on the public enquiry line before it got cut, this was our most frequent enquiry.