As the owner or manager of a small or medium-sized enterprise, you are naturally seeking to keep costs and waste down. Faced with budgetary pressures, it can therefore be easy to disregard the idea of portable heater hire as an unnecessary expense. There are, however, a number of good reasons why you may wish to reconsider.
A workplace fit for working
Although a minimum temperature in the workplace is not specified by law, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) guidelines say that temperature should not drop below 16°C – or 13°C if a lot of the work that takes place is physical. To quote the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992: “The temperature in workrooms should provide reasonable comfort without the need for special clothing. Where such a temperature is impractical because of hot or cold processes, all reasonable steps should be taken to achieve a temperature which is as close as possible to comfortable.”
Shivers and sniffles lead to productivity losses
Given that many office complexes, warehouses, factories and packing plants are unheated, then it is likely – with the vagaries of winter – that the temperature will fall below these temperatures much of the time. While the food industry has special dispensation to use refrigerated workplaces, it’s not good for other enterprises to allow their surroundings to become too chilly. Cold workers become unhappy and unproductive, and worse still, they will become ill, further impacting on the work rate.
No need for a major refit
Thankfully, the solution to this does not have to be the installation of expensive and possibly inappropriate permanent heating systems. A good portable heater hire company will work with you to select the best forms of heating for your environment and you can decide precisely for how long they will be needed. This will keep the cost of hire as low as possible and keep conditions in your workplace comfortable, no matter what the weather.
There’s a heating system that’s right for you
Depending on the environment to be heated, there are many different options. As technology continues to advance, energy-efficiency is leading to more and more low-cost forms of heating, such as infrared heaters or radiators. Heating hire firms will have a range of different devices and will be glad to explain how each kind benefits a different kind of workplace. They will also be able to advise on the best way to keep those energy bills down.
So when faced with a sudden temperature drop, or the move to a new set of unheated premises, it pays to consider heating hire, rather than a huge and disruptive refurbishment – or icicles where once were staff! You can remain in total control of how the heating arrangements are made, and be rid of them once they are no longer necessary.
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