The office where I work will not turn on the a/c and it's getting so hot in her during the day that employees are starting to get sick (literally, throwing up and everything). We're allowed to open the windows and have personal fans, but it's not enough to help. Are their any OSHA guidelines about the temperature in an office?

I find it odd that you're having an isssue with it being too hot in January but i'll take your word for it.

OSHA does post guidleines about office temp. , but they are merely that, guidelines and un-enforceable. see below directly off the OSHA site.



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%.


Here's a link to Reiteration in it's entirety;


http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=INTERPRETATIONS&p_id=24602

Thank you. I'll give that to our manager... even though it's not required maybe it'll make him think anyway.

I wasn't expecting to have heat issues in January in Colorado either, it's a big surprise. This is the first winter I've worked for this company and it's been miserable. We're not a huge office but we have about 65 people working here and at least 60 computers... add to that the fact that the windows on one side face the rising sun, and the others face the setting... well, it tends to heat up, a lot.