91°F (32.7°C) in the factory I work at.
The law states “all factories must maintain a reasonable temperature and humidity.”
Nowhere is reasonable ever defined. I am mildly infuriated. And very hot lol
Edit: 94° (34.4C) now and this post has made it close to the top of “Hot”… The gods are having a laugh lol
Default password on that model is 1234 /salute
It’s like that here in Germany too. They have a legal lower temperature limit, but otherwise it’s just “if it’s hot you have to give your employees water.”
It will be 40C next week. No AC in my office.
I definitely feel for you guys in Europe, a lot of tough arguments to be had with employers coming up… If I understand correctly AC isn’t that common because it historically hasn’t been as necessary as it has been in the US. The future unfortunately is looking to make it necessary pretty much everywhere :(
I live in the hottest part of Germany. In the north, AC honestly isn’t that necessary and we managed really well by just keeping the blinds closed, but down here it’s impossible.
I worked in plastic extrusion for nearly a decade.
The front of the line would be about 85, but the back of the kine, where the work was, hit 110°F to 120F° in the summers.
Absolute hell
Luckily my ambulance has AC. Here’s our top temp from yesterday:
As someone living in the equator where sun is fucking angry at us everyday, 32°c indoor is toasty, and 34°c indoor is torture. You should report to the authority and let them know.
Unless you work near furnace of course.
Wait until you see 41°C.
(Atleast i was home when it was 40°C. Otherwise i’d be literally cooked.)
I was in Venice at 41C with 90 percent humidity. It was like trying to breathe underwater.
This is America, what authorities give a damn about how hot you are? If there was one, I’m sure Musk’n’Trump got rid of them.
OSHA probably cares.
The company should care, because if the workers are dropping off because of heat stroke, they’re not creating value for the shareholders.
What state has that law? Or is it national? Or outside of the US?
Outside of an actual climate controlled storage unit (IE a giant fridge/freezer) every warehouse or shop I’ve ever been in for any reason had zero climate control and not even any insulation. Concrete base, with thin courrugated steel walls/roofs mostly. Shits like an oven, since it ends up being even hotter in the building than it is outside.
I am in California.
I’m in NY and that’s the language I was able to find in the states laws regarding factory conditions, but it’s not really regulated since their only stated “metric” is a completely vague, subjective amount: “reasonable.”
Nowhere in the language do they define reasonable, and when I reached out to my “representative” asking for clarification they never responded, naturally lol
If you can reach out to a local expert, there’s probably an assumed standard for “reasonable” that the state goes by. Vague laws like that frequently just mean that you use the standard set by an administrative admin or the courts.
I also work in a factory but our temperature is largely unregulated with the exception of offices, break areas and certain departments where the stock needs to be kept away from too much humidity (so, even in those departments it’s humidity control not air conditioning). In the winter it’s cold enough that we’ve had pipes freeze in the center of the building and in the summer it’s normal to see 100 degrees at 3am. It’s too bad I don’t live in one of those states where it’s “regulated” because I think anyone would say those temperatures are unreasonable.
I was riding on a bus today where the temperature was 38c(101f). I only sat on it for like 40 minutes and i felt like fucking soup after, imagine having to be the bus driver. High temps like this are extremely dangerous actually.
So, uh… We have the same thermostat at my job. It’s not great. You can’t just tell it what temperature you want the room to be, you actually have to tell it if you want it to heat or cool to that temperature.
Yours is set set to 65, but if you look to the left of the current temp, it says “heat.” Someone likely forgot to change that when the weather warmed up. IIRC, one of the three unlabeled middle buttons will fix that.
Lol I appreciate the help, but there is literally no AC unit. All we have is oil heat for the winter so the pipes don’t freeze
Pipes over people!
literally in the danger zone unless it’s super dry where you are.I guess dry heat is a thing. I can do >110 fine, I don’t like it, but I don’t feel in danger. But its 10% or less humidity. Its usually better to wear more clothes just to keep the direct sun off you. Somehow wearing a hoodie in the desert in summer is comfortable. Its also nice not getting sweaty because it immediately evaporates.
I spent a summer in south India a few years ago during monsoon season. I was fucking miserable in my jeans and shirts until I switched over to wearing loose, flowing clothes made of bleached kahdi (loose homespun cotton) like the locals. It keeps the sun off you and even when it gets soaked it doesn’t cling to your skin, and then whenever the rain stops it dries completely very quickly. Other westerners I met made fun of me for pretending to go native, but they had no clue how effective it was.
Alright, I’m interested. What should i search for?
Caution at below 27 °C (80 F)? Always? Why is there no “OK” zone?
I believe it’s because this table is for apparent temperature while exerting yourself.
It’s literally in the extreme caution zone.
I assumed 60% RH since that’s what it is on average in the heat dome currently.
Nowhere on your chart, at any humidity, are the temperatures mentioned in OP in the danger zone. They are in the extreme caution zone.
I believe the temperatures within the chart are “feels like” temperatures rather than absolute temperatures. The X axis shows absolute values (what would likely show on the thermostat).
At OPs original temperature (91°F) the danger zone would be around 60-70% and higher. At OPs last updated temperature (94°F), the danger zone would be 55% or higher.
Well aren’t I dumb! Cheers.
Highway to the extreme caution zone just doesn’t have that ring to it.
Thanks for the image, I’m definitely saving that for future use!
Apparently we’re in “extreme caution,” even though it feels humid the forecast says we’re around 50% humidity
They didn’t even set the fan to “on” mode!
I work in environmental, health, and safety, and industrial hygiene, so workplace safety is my jam. You are correct that the regs are shit. Unless you live in one of five states with heat related regulations, you’re really only covered by OSHA’s general duty clause, which can be summed up as “employers have to at least make a good faith effort to do the bare minimum to not hurt their employees”. It sucks.
For workplace temperature, what you’ll want to look at is wet-bulb temperature, not the dry-bulb reading provided by a thermostat. You can find online calculators that’ll calculate it by temperature and relative humidity. Wet bulb is the measurement accounting for evaporative cooling, so a better approximation of what temperature a human body experiences. Theoretically, a wet-bulb temperature of 35°C (95°F) or more isn’t sustainable and will always lead to heat illness with sustained exposure. Around 30°C (about 85°F) is where we start seeing issues if people don’t consider any steps to avoid heat illness.
It gets tricky from there as there are a ton of variables to determining a safe temperature, e.g., hydration, environmental radiant heat, cardiovascular health, level of acclimation, nature of the work, body mass, break frequency, access to air conditioned spaces, etc.
For example, at 94°F, a healthy adult performing moderate physical activity out of the sun (or away from any other heat source) should be fine up to about 75% humidity, assuming they are dressed appropriately, acclimated to the temperature, remain hydrated, and take periodic rest breaks (I’d advise 10 minutes on the hour).
Let me know if I can help at all. I love heat, but working in it is just miserable.
I thought that any wet bulb temperature above your own body’s is cause for concern as sweating basically becomes useless, is that not accurate?
You are 100% correct about concern for wet bulb temperature above body temperature, although we start getting concerned at a couple of degrees below body temperature too. The environment has to be a bit cooler so waste heat can be dumped fast enough, otherwise body temperature will begin to increase. Two degrees cooler is barely enough and it’s a miserable experience if you’re doing anything.
Thank you for the detailed response! I’ll have to keep an eye on the wet bulb temperature for future discussions about the heat at work.
The regulations really are frustrating especially since I’ve reached out to local “representatives” about how vague they are and naturally got no response lol
Of course! And seriously, hit me up if you need any EHS advice or some real official sounding verbiage. I got laid off so I suddenly have a lot of free time.
I’m sorry to hear that! I definitely appreciate your help, I hope you’re able to find something soon!
Lucky. 100° f in mine rn.
Pass out from heat exhaustion and then sue them
Do you guys make sweatshirts and sweatpants?
By the end of the day we do!
Not the kind you’d buy, unless it’s some strange Japanese used clothing vending machine lol
