Constantly sick- is workplace at fault?

Shinaynay

So I work in a department store for the last 10 months. I consider myself healthy enough, take supplements, gym 3 times a week, dont eat sh1te etc.

Everyday without fail we get at least 5 customers commenting on how hot it is in the shop. It is always (ALWAYS!) roasting to the point where the stff wear nothing but tshirts-regardless of weather outside. Its always about 23 degrees of suffocating heat. We do not have working air conditioning. Since I started I have been struck down with really bad sickness 3 times. Swollen glands, headcold, blocked nose, cough etc. Three times in 10 months!! Could this be related to the working conditons? I am in there about 45hrs a week. And if so would I have grounds to demand air con be installed?

BrokenArrows

Can you not ask to turn down the heat?

Shinaynay

BrokenArrows wrote: »

Can you not ask to turn down the heat?

Theres no heat on. Its the basement as I said so theres no windows or doors near us. The air conditioning doesnt work

BrokenArrows

Shinaynay wrote: »

Theres no heat on. Its the basement as I said so theres no windows or doors near us. The air conditioning doesnt work

There must be a law where you need to provide comfortable working conditions.
Have a look and see.

Ellis Dee

How does the air get into the basement? If it comes in through ducts, it might be a good idea to check them, because ventilation systems (or more precisely microorganisms that grow in them) are often the cause of diseases with symptoms like those you mention, one of the worst being legionairre's disease).


Have a health inspector come along and I hope you find the cause and get back to good health soon.

Chancer3001

buy a fan/ac

Shinaynay

Chancer3001 wrote: »

buy a fan/ac

I dont think a fan will do anything other than regurgitate hot air. And as much as I would love to be able to afford to buy air conditioning, its not really my responcibility

Chancer3001

I dunno, lived in Spain for a while, a fan made the heat way more bearable.

You can get cheap portable a/c

Shinaynay

Chancer3001 wrote: »

I dunno, lived in Spain for a while, a fan made the heat way more bearable.

You can get cheap portable a/c

i work in the basement of a huge dept store, not an apartment. Cheers for suggestion

BrokenArrows

BrokenArrows wrote: »

There must be a law where you need to provide comfortable working conditions.
Have a look and see.

There is, afaik the workplace has to be around 16 degrees c.

btkm8unsl0w5r4

It's not nice working in heat but it's much more likely that it the contact with the public that's causing the problem, you will catch everything that's going.

Installing air con in a large shop would cost 100's of thousands...easier to make you redundant

Shinaynay

Ellison Poor Locust wrote: »

BrokenArrows wrote: »

There must be a law where you need to provide comfortable working conditions.
Have a look and see.

There is, afaik the workplace has to be around 16 degrees c.

Oh thats good to know. Thanks.:-)

Procrastastudy

I'll place my 'legal expertise' here for you S - there's a lower limit but no upper limit although it has to be reasonable. After having a dispute with an employer over almost the same issue I can tell you 23C is probably fine.

You will find though that if you've poor AC its recirculating all the nasty crap that the public bring in to you and you are going to continually get colds and other nasty bugs. Good luck sorting it out - it got really nasty with me, the employer and a certain high profile shopping centre in South Dublin.

arse..biscuits

For comfort, 19 to 21 degrees with a humidity of 40%-60% is normal. There are other factors such as air movement (0.1m/sec) and air quality (10 litres of fresh air per second per person) which are a little harded to measure.

Installing AC wouldn't cost too much if it was solely for the basement (depending on the size of the basement).
I doubt heat alone would cause sickness. Its probably an air quality issue.
Are there cleaning products or anything which gives off fumes in the basement?

Can you see where air supply comes from, are the grilles clean? or filthy?
Can you pop off a grille and look into the duct? Is it filthy?
Are there filters which haven't been changed?

househero

Shinaynay wrote: »

So I work in a department store for the last 10 months. I consider myself healthy enough, take supplements, gym 3 times a week, dont eat sh1te etc.

Everyday without fail we get at least 5 customers commenting on how hot it is in the shop. It is always (ALWAYS!) roasting to the point where the stff wear nothing but tshirts-regardless of weather outside. Its always about 23 degrees of suffocating heat. We do not have working air conditioning. Since I started I have been struck down with really bad sickness 3 times. Swollen glands, headcold, blocked nose, cough etc. Three times in 10 months!! Could this be related to the working conditons? I am in there about 45hrs a week. And if so would I have grounds to demand air con be installed?

Hahahahha

Sorry I know you think this is a serious question.

23 is not hot, I dont see foreign workers dropping dead with weak immune systems. To be honest it sounds like you may have Glandular Fever, in which case it will come back and it has nothing to do with your work. But if you do, you get ill easy and you can not tolerate stress or working hard. (no messing) Your doctor can test this with bloods.

But no you have no right at all to demand air conditioning from your employer. I wouldn't employ you. So try to keep the job you have sweet heart.

Procrastastudy

househero wrote: »

Hahahahha

Sorry I know you think this is a serious question.

23 is not hot, I dont see foreign workers dropping dead with weak immune systems. To be honest it sounds like you may have Glandular Fever, in which case it will come back and it has nothing to do with your work. But if you do, you get ill easy and you can not tolerate stress or working hard. (no messing) Your doctor can test this with bloods.

But no you have no right at all to demand air conditioning from your employer. I wouldn't employ you. So try to keep the job you have sweet heart.

As much as it pains me to defend someone who has done nothing but attack me in another thread this is non-sense. If customers are complaining about it and the air quality is causing illness - very serious illness in the case of the OP - the employees have every right to demand something be done about it. The kind of humidity and temps they will be dealing with will be unpleasant to say the least.

Chancer3001

get a face mask.

househero

Procrastastudy wrote: »

As much as it pains me to defend someone who has done nothing but attack me in another thread this is non-sense. If customers are complaining about it and the air quality is causing illness - very serious illness in the case of the OP - the employees have every right to demand something be done about it. The kind of humidity and temps they will be dealing with will be unpleasant to say the least.

Yes but how can you prove that it is the air quality and not an underlying illness of the op. 23 degrees is not hot at all, it gets to over 50 in Egypt and they work 18hr days without food or water all day during ramadan without keeling over and dying.

He needs to go get his blood tested at the doctors unless all his fellow co workers are suffering from the same, its his own weak immune system and nothing to do with being warm.

Our bodies are made of tougher stuff than to let 23 degrees cause illness. He has no right to demand air conditioning from his employer, even if he feels too warm, 23 degrees is a whopping 13 degrees BELOW our own body temperature.

OP go the Doctor to get your blood tested, you are ill and you need to find out what it is, its not from being too warm. If you are convinced it is your place of work, look around for signs of mold which could possibly make you sick.

Procrastastudy

househero wrote: »

Yes but how can you prove that it is the air quality and not an underlying illness of the op. 23 degrees is not hot at all, it gets to over 50 in Egypt and they work 18hr days without food or water all day during ramadan without keeling over and dying.

He needs to go get his blood tested at the doctors unless all his fellow co workers are suffering from the same, its his own weak immune system and nothing to do with being warm.

Our bodies are made of tougher stuff than to let 23 degrees cause illness. He has no right to demand air conditioning from his employer, even if he feels too warm, 23 degrees is a whopping 13 degrees BELOW our own body temperature.

OP go the Doctor to get your blood tested, you are ill and you need to find out what it is, its not from being too warm. If you are convinced it is your place of work, look around for signs of mold which could possibly make you sick.

It isn't the temp - although it doesn't help for Northern Europeans acclimatised to a different environment to North Africans - its the bugs and humidity that will be caused by it. If the Air con is just recirculating the air everyone will just keep getting ever bug someone walks in with.

Not only that a retail environment should be comfortable for customers with coats on not only workable in with T-shirts on.

MagicMarker

In my experience working in offices with functioning air-con, 23 degrees is way too hot and uncomfortable for me. Around 19 degrees is perfect imo.

Unfortunately OP, I don't think there's anything you can do here as there are no laws being broken afaik.

househero wrote: »

Yes but how can you prove that it is the air quality and not an underlying illness of the op. 23 degrees is not hot at all, it gets to over 50 in Egypt and they work 18hr days without food or water all day during ramadan without keeling over and dying.

Bringing up the temp in Egypt is pointless tbh. 23 degrees isn't hot for Egyptians, but I don't think the OP is from Egypt.

househero

MagicMarker wrote: »

In my experience working in offices with functioning air-con, 23 degrees is way too hot and uncomfortable for me. Around 19 degrees is perfect imo.

Unfortunately OP, I don't think there's anything you can do here as there are no laws being broken afaik.



Bringing up the temp in Egypt is pointless tbh. 23 degrees isn't hot for Egyptians, but I don't think the OP is from Egypt.

Yea I was just exaggerating a point. The point is 23 degrees can't make your body sick, there is no physical difference between an Egyptians body and an European, so it was relevant. Maybe the op hasn't had the pleasure of a holiday in the sun.

He is sick. He needs a doctor. Not an AC unit hahahaha

Procrastastudy

househero wrote: »

Yea I was just exaggerating a point. The point is 23 degrees can't make your body sick, there is no physical difference between an Egyptians body and an European, so it was relevant. Maybe the op hasn't had the pleasure of a holiday in the sun.

He is sick. He needs a doctor. Not an AC unit hahahaha

Thats just non-sense. People moving from different climates will feel the heat / cold.

Mr Simpson

Section 7 of the Safety, Health and Welfare at work act 2007 states maximum temperature as 17.5 degrees for a sedentary job where reasonably practible.

See a doctor and get their advice. If necessary, make a report to the Health and Safety Authority.

(BTW, the act says that arrangements must be made for an employee to measure temp in the workplace)(Temp should be taken by bulb thermometer at 1.1m from ground level)

Procrastastudy

mmcn90 wrote: »

Section 7 of the Safety, Health and Welfare at work act 2007 states maximum temperature as 17.5 degrees for a sedentary job where reasonably practible.

See a doctor and get their advice. If necessary, make a report to the Health and Safety Authority.

(BTW, the act says that arrangements must be made for an employee to measure temp in the workplace)(Temp should be taken by bulb thermometer at 1.1m from ground level)

Unfortunately Section 7 does not apply to retail environments. Section 6 looks promising though. It's also a minimum not maximum temp I'm afraid.

househero

mmcn90 wrote: »

Section 7 of the Safety, Health and Welfare at work act 2007 states maximum temperature as 17.5 degrees for a sedentary job where reasonably practible.

See a doctor and get their advice. If necessary, make a report to the Health and Safety Authority.

(BTW, the act says that arrangements must be made for an employee to measure temp in the workplace)(Temp should be taken by bulb thermometer at 1.1m from ground level)

Sorry mod, you misread the act.

It has a MINIMUM temp of 17.5

There is no maximum.

There is no maximum temperature specified in the 2007 Regulations. The HSA Guide notes that although no maximum temperature is specified, this does not mean that any temperature is acceptable. At high or uncomfortable temperatures, particularly when not caused by temporary weather conditions, a means of cooling should be provided. The Guide also suggests that for most people an acceptable temperature for office work lies within the range of 18 to 23 °C

Taken from the guidelines.

Mr Simpson

That I did, the disadvantage of reading on a phone. Apologies. Temperature must still be bearable though.

I'd still say the OP should visit their GP

househero

mmcn90 wrote: »

I'd still say the OP should visit their GP

Definitely, I would second that, its the only way to find out the cause.

Good luck op, I hope you find out the cause of your illness and get better.

Nonoperational

What's the GP going to say? The working in 23 degrees isn't going to cause you to get sick... You don't get sick by heat or cold etc you get sick if the virus is transmitted to you from someone that is already sick. Maybe recirculated air could contribute to it but it's incredibly hard to prove the workplace is at fault, which is the original question the OP asked. I still think it's much more likely the workplace isn't at fault and it's just from being in contact with lots of people day in day out and it's just unlucky. Is anyone else sick at work?

Taking supplements is irrelevant btw.

Mr Simpson

The GP can do blood tests. There may be a deeper cause to the illnesses, its worth checking out.

At the end of the day, we don't do medical advice on Boards for a reason, we're not qualified (and even if we are, you'd be mad to take medical advice from a stranger on the internet)

Nonoperational

mmcn90 wrote: »

The GP can do blood tests. There may be a deeper cause to the illnesses, its worth checking out.

At the end of the day, we don't do medical advice on Boards for a reason, we're not qualified (and even if we are, you'd be mad to take medical advice from a stranger on the internet)

I agree about investigating it properly if it's recurring. Definitely.

It's just almost impossible to say that working in 23degrees was the cause of an illness and that installing air-conditioning would stop that illness from happening. It's be much more plausible to find out if others were getting sick/feeling uncomfortably hot and make a case to management.