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Original poster

It's 105 degrees in my office.... this can't be right?!

18 replies

beansprout · 18/07/2006 12:22

But the law doesn't state an upper temperature limit. We have fans etc and no, air con units wouldn't work (we would need too many for the shape and layout of the building) so there is no way 'round it, but it's only lunchtime and I already feel sick.

Am fed up

Anyone else in ridiculous conditions?

OP posts:
CountessDracula · 18/07/2006 12:25

No i am having the opposite problem, the air con is so fierce I am wearing socks and a jacket and have to keep going outside to warm up!

southeastastra · 18/07/2006 12:26

not yet, but will later be in the oven that is the car, can you put your feet in a bowl of cold water? i really feel sorry for people stuck in offices, on tubes etc in this heat i used to hate it so much

tenalady · 18/07/2006 12:27

Not at the moment but have been before. Feign illness and get sent home, I would. If you dont do that then just make sure you drink loads.

Kaloo20 · 18/07/2006 13:46

hot and airless here, in an office full of computers ...

even got my dreaded upper arms bare today - THATS how hot it is !

ugh the trains are horrendous - dreading the journey home and Friday will be even worse if the train strike goes ahead

clerkKent · 18/07/2006 13:50

beansprout, it can't be right. 105 degrees is above boiling point

meowmix · 18/07/2006 13:50

if you feel dizzy, sweaty and headachy may well have a touch of heatstroke..... would have to go home then wouldn't you...?

can you spot my exit-from-the-sauna-office strategy yet?!

Aimsmum · 18/07/2006 14:01

Message withdrawn

Smellen · 18/07/2006 14:26

This time last year, 6 months pregnant, and 32c in the classroom. Had a "health and safety" audit with the deputy head, which resulted in nothing being done to help the situation.

This year, same story (minus bump, thank god). Classroom temp 32c this morning; kids lethargic and overheated.

No legal max temperature, although a "duty of care" to employees --- which our management choose to ignore. And as for the kids, well, they still bark at them to put their ties & blazers on! Find the whole situation unacceptable and frustrating. When will the government introduce a legal max limit?

jaamy · 18/07/2006 15:35

I have no window in my office and only dodgy desk fan. Is it still sunny out there?

CarolinaMoose · 18/07/2006 15:40

my old office was like that - the windows wouldn't open and the aircon was ancient and always broke as soon as it got hot, every summer without fail. We were give ice lollies (ffs!) but they would all melt before they reached our floor

at teaching school children in those conditions.

whoopsfallenoveragain · 18/07/2006 15:48

I am in an office with 2 heat producing servers and the office outside my door has an air conditioning unit so I have been told not to open my window.
I have just bought Ice creams out of petty cash though!!!

sarahhal · 18/07/2006 16:02

Do you teach at my school Smellen?! DH's fluffy woolly school has sent their kids home at lunch time because of the heat and the same will happen again tomorrow.

It's ridiculous to expect children to sit in ties and shirts in this heat - I've got one pokey fan in my room which I had to throw a tantrum for when pregnant last year! Trouble is it just winds the kids up about where in the room I should set it going!!

redsky · 18/07/2006 16:21

I'm worried about the chef in our pub kitchen - it's 50dgrees in front of the cooker - but he says that as a chef you expect hot working conditions. We do our best to keep them plied with iced drinks -and they can always nip into the cold room.

Smellen · 19/07/2006 12:14

At least you sound like you care Redsky. Here I get the distinct impression that any comments about the heat are taken as "whinging".

I don't think we're at the same school SarahHal - I would've notice another sweaty bump this time last year. However, it is probably indicative of a lot of schools - old, badly ventilated buildings (aircon - don't make me laugh!) and 'managers' who are inflexible and haven't been in a classroom with 30 little heat-generating bodies for a very long time...

I think parents should write and complain to their schools if the kids' working conditions are poor - just because they are minors doesn't mean that their health and safety should be overlooked, and all too often the management only sit up and listen when parents/ the press start getting interested.

yorkshirelass79 · 19/07/2006 12:25

Message withdrawn

Tutter · 19/07/2006 12:26

apparently not - dermot mentioned it on bbc breakfast news this morning

ComeOVeneer · 19/07/2006 12:30

Not at work today thankfully, but was on Monday. We have no airconditioning and the waiting room is central to the surgeries with a glass roof. Plus I have to wear latex gloves and a face mask. I was so glad to get into an airconditioned car at the end of the day.

meowmix · 19/07/2006 12:36

they recommend maintaining a temp no higher than 24degrees for an office, obviously my boss misread that as 44 degrees.

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