what is the lowest temperture a commercial factory building the owner can have before its illegal?

Question

my girlfriend frezzes her *** off at work b/c the boss keeps the temp alllllllll thee way down whats legal and whats not? i know its a health code!

Answer 1

OSHA makes all the laws about that sort of thing.

I visited their web site and looked it up:

"On December 17, 2001 OSHA withdrew its Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) proposal and terminated the rulemaking proceeding (66 FR 64946). However, the Agency still receives public inquiries about IAQ, primarily office temperature/humidity and smoking in the workplace. For that reason, we have summarized the Agency's position and guidance on these topics. We are including language in the form of letters you can utilize when responding to complainants on these topics.

Office Temperature/Humidity

As a general rule, office temperature and humidity are matters of human comfort. OSHA has no regulations specifically addressing temperature and humidity in an office setting. However, Section III, Chapter 2, Subsection V of the OSHA Technical Manual, "Recommendations for the Employer," provides engineering and administrative guidance to prevent or alleviate indoor air quality problems. Air treatment is defined under the engineering recommendations as, "the removal of air contaminants and/or the control of room temperature and humidity." OSHA recommends temperature control in the range of 68-76° F and humidity control in the range of 20%-60%."

Answer 2

ASHRAE Standard 55-1992 Thermal Environmental Conditions for Human Occupancy, recommends the following acceptable temperature ranges at relative humidity (RH) of 50% and air speed less than 0.15 m/sec. (30 fpm).

Winter: 68-75 degrees F
Summer: 73-79 degrees F

If the office is warmer or cooler than this range on a consistent basis, you can contact a local health and safety office for your state to see what can be done about it.

Keep in mind that not everyone is happy about whatever temperature the office is set to. You will always have someone who is too cold or too hot.

Also, there may be a valid reason for keeping the temperature low. If your girlfriend works in the IT department and they have the mini computers or mainframes in the room with them, these have to be maintained cool. If she is in a meat packing office or works with other foods that must be kept cool, they building may be maintained at a low temperature for that purpose.

Perhaps she can discuss this with her boss and see what can be done. Perhaps he can raise the temperature a notch or two, or he can allow her to bring in a personal heater for her cubicle or desk area so that she can "...better concentrate on her job..." rather than having her extremities feel numb and being unable to type or write notes and such.

Unfortunately, if no one else is objecting to the temperature, you both will be hard pressed to get them to raise it just because your girlfriend is always cold.

Answer 3

More than temperature it is the air circulation for fresh air to come in and foul air to go out at a standard prescribed for factories.

Answer 4

I've never heard of any law requiring temperatures in work places. You don't state where you live - that might make a difference.

Answer 5

60 degrees is usually the norm. But it all depends on where she works? What does she do for a living?