§ Earl Attleeasked the Chairman of Committees:
Whether the temperature and air quality in the Moses Room during the Grand Committee on the Employment Relations Bill at 6 p.m. on 15 June complied with the requirements of Health and Safety at Work legislation. [HL3284]
§ The Chairman of Committees (Lord Brabazon of Tara)Health and Safety regulations do not specify the maximum acceptable temperature for an office, although the Health and Safety Executive does give guidance that, "An acceptable zone of thermal comfort for most people in the UK lies roughly between 13°C (56°F) and 30°C (86°F)". While I understand that this indicative maximum temperature was not exceeded in the Grand Committee on 15 June, I regret that overall conditions deteriorated to the extent that it was found to be necessary to adjourn the Committee.
The reason for the deterioration in conditions was a mechanical fault which caused the air-conditioning equipment to shut down. Unfortunately, due to the age and design of the equipment, when an event such as this occurs there are no automatic visual or audible warnings. In this particular instance, once staff were informed of the conditions in the Moses Room at about 5 p.m., the fault was immediately rectified. However, as the temperature in the room had already risen considerably, it took some time to restore the room to a normal temperature.
It seems that the fault was probably caused by a build-up of dust on the cooling coils arising from stone cleaning activity in the vicinity. Action has now been taken to have the cooling coils cleaned, and staff are actively monitoring the temperature in the Moses Room to avoid a repetition of this unfortunate occurrence.