Working environment responsibility?

[Poshpinks23]

Please can someone advise me on who's the responsibility it is to keep the salon either cool in the summer and warm in the winter?
Please let me explain, I am self-employed and work in a salon and have been told that if I want a fan to stay cool then I have to provided it myself. Now im confused as I was lead to believe that if my working environment is to hot or cold and I cant work then it would be the salin owners responsibility to sort this.

 

[TheDuchess]

If you are self employed you are responsible for your own working conditions.

Of course contracts vary - if you are employed as a contract worker alongside employees to provide services to someone else’s clients then you have to be treated equal to an employee for health and safety purposes. You’ll also qualify for holiday pay.

If you provide services to your own clients, manage your own methods of working, set your own prices etc, it’s up to you to decide the appropriate environment. Your landlord can set certain rules, no portable heaters is often one because they tend to invalidate insurance policies, and it’s reasonable for anything you provide to be either less than 6 months old, with a receipt, or with a Portable Appliance Tester’s certification.

 

[Poshpinks23]

Thanks , I just thought that if the condition prohibited you from carrying out your work it would be down to the salon owners to rectify that. ?

 

[tog]

Thanks , I just thought that if the condition prohibited you from carrying out your work it would be down to the salon owners to rectify that. ?

Only if you're employed. Or if that's what it says in your contract with your landlord.

 

[Chriss87]

Please can someone advise me on who's the responsibility it is to keep the salon either cool in the summer and warm in the winter?
Please let me explain, I am self-employed and work in a salon and have been told that if I want a fan to stay cool then I have to provided it myself. Now im confused as I was lead to believe that if my working environment is to hot or cold and I cant work then it would be the salin owners responsibility to sort this.

So the information that's been posted in response to your question is actually incorrect, and the answer Is more complicated and depends on the individual business.

Even if you rent a chair and are self employed HSE class you as an employee when it comes to health and safety, which covers work place temperature. Work place temperature doesn't have an actual hottest and coldest accepted temperature to work in but has guidelines and suggestions as to what should be considered acceptable. It's more down to will you become ill in the temperature your working in.
If the salon your working in has 5 or more people working there, not at the same time but just 5 in total that rent chairs, run the business or are on work experience or are contractors (plumber temporarily working on site) then the owner has a legal obligation to monitor the temperature and look after the welfare of those working and customers on site. If less then 5 total the owner is still required to monitor the temperature but there is more of a responsibility on the employees (chair renters).

So the answer is its both your responsibility and the owners, if there is more then 5 of you working in the salon the owners has more of a responsibility to act and would be found negligent if they hadn't taken action. If less then 5 its more of a shared responsibility.

Its covered briefly on the LHAA website under health and safety and more in depth in the health and safety at work act and VTCT health and safety in the salon. If you become ill due to the temperature its then RIDDOR and its abit different again.

 

[Poshpinks23]

Thank you x