Although it is generally accepted that people work best at a temperature between 16°C and 24°C, there are no specific legal maximum working temperatures for schools or for offices or other workplaces.
There are some sources of legal protection for school staff and pupils:
- The Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 requires employers to ensure the health, safety and welfare of their staff and others present in the workplace (eg pupils), thereby providing a need to seek to protect against excessive working temperatures.
- The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 require employers to ensure that temperatures in workplaces should be ‘reasonable’ although it does not specify a maximum reasonable temperature.
These legal requirements can be enforced by Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspectors who may issue legally binding notices to employers obliging them to comply with the requirements.