Page 24 - PWM2023_JUNE

BETTER BUSINESS

Weathering

workplace

When it comes to the British, if it’s not football, the
royal family, or holidays, the conversation invaria-
bly turns to the weather, by Adam Bernstein

f course, all of these The rules on temperature
topics affect our lives, So, with the prospect of a hot sum-
but the latter has the mer ahead, what are the rules?
potential for disrup- Alexandra Farmer, head of team and
tion. And for employ- a solicitor at WorkNest, says it sur-
Oers, it’s important to prises some that there are no legal
recognise that productivity can be minimum or maximum working
tied to the weather.
Consider an April 2022 headline temperatures in the UK.
in the Independent – “£497m dam- However, she says “employers are
age bill for Storms Dudley, Eunice required to ensure that temperatures
and Franklin”. It detailed how the in all workplaces inside buildings are
storms led to 177,000 claims being reasonable” and cites guidance pub-
made after damage to homes, vehi- lished by the Health & Safety
cles and businesses. Executive (HSE) Workplace (Health,
Heating and ventilation firm Safety and Welfare) Regulations
Andrew Sykes carries out regular sur- 1992. She says: “The guidance Best productivity
veys into the impact of temperatures advises that temperature in a work- If there is no legal minimum or maximum temperature, what should
on Brits at work and at home. In a place should normally be at least employers do? What is best for staff to help them work productively?
2014 survey of more than 2,000 peo- 16°C, or at least 13°C where work
ple, it found that less than one-quar- involves rigorous physical effort. Looking at a June 2016 BBC report, the first thing to note is that employ-
ter of office workers thought the There is currently no guidance on the ers will never be able to please everyone all of the time, as workers experi-
temperature in their office was com- upper end of the scale.” ence temperature differently.
fortable, and more than one-third Mark Stevens, a senior associate at A 2015 survey of 129 office workers in the US for softwareadvice.com
suggested they took at least 10 min- VWV, agrees. He tells how the ques- backs this – it found that 42% of people thought their building was too
utes out of work each day due to tem- tion of suitable workplace tempera- warm, while 56% thought it too cold. However, a paper, Thermal Effects
perature alone. tures has been on the radar of on Office Productivity, published by Sage Journals, detailed the effect of
Overall, 6% believed they spent legislators for some time and says the ambient temperature on worker efficiency by tracking the activity of
more than half an hour each day not MPs have previously called for a limit clerks in an insurance office. Although it measured the activity of just nine
working well because of the tempera- to be introduced: “In 2016, a motion women, the results were fascinating. At 25°C they were typing non-stop
ture. Working conditions in the was tabled in parliament calling for with an error rate of just 10%. When the temperature dropped five degrees,
printing industry can vary wildly, the government to limit tempera- they were half as productive and made more than double the number of
from offices that may or may not be tures to 30°C, or 27°C for more stren- mistakes.
air-conditioned, to pre-media and uous work.
digital printing zones kept perma- The motion suggested that But as Farmer says: “People usually work best at temperatures between
nently chilly to ensure peak perfor- employers would have to introduce 16°C and 24°C, although this varies depending on the type of work being
mance of the kit therein. These areas control measures, such as breaks, carried out. Strenuous work is naturally better performed at slightly lower
can be a sharp contrast to factory access to water or air conditioning in temperatures than office work.” She adds that the Chartered Institute of
floors where large printing presses the event that the above thresholds Building Services Engineers recommends the following temperatures:
generate a significant amount of are met or exceeded. It has not yet heavy work in factories: 13°C; light work in factories: 16°C; hospital wards
heat. found its way into statute, however. and shops: 18°C; offices and dining rooms: 20°C.

24 PrintWeek MENA June 2023 www.printweekmena.com