Buy a Water Cooler it’s the law… and it also helps increase staff productivity

Did you know that all UK employers are required to provide easily accessible water for their staff to drink, free of charge along with the cups to drink from unless the water machine in question is fitted with a drinking fountain style tap? With all UK offices fast becoming a Smoke free zone it’s easy for employers to forget about all of the other legal obligations to their staff and visitors.

Buy a Water Cooler it’s the law

According to Business Link UK employers are required to “make an accessible seated area available for staff to eat, with access to drinking water and hot drinks” (1). If employees regularly eat in the workplace they are entitled to expect an accessible area in which they can eat and if food is likely to be contaminated elsewhere (such as within a factory or workshop) they are also entitled to seating arrangements, hot drink facilities, and a way of heating food. In addition to this employers must also provide free drinking water and cups unless the water is dispensed via a drinking fountain or similar.

Obviously the water that employers provide must be free from contamination, the Health and Safety Executive website states that water maybe sourced “preferably from the public water supply - bottled water dispensers are acceptable as a secondary supply” (2).

If water is sourced from a bottled water cooler rather than from the mains water supply employers must ensure that “there are adequate supplies, taking into consideration the temperature of the working environment and types of work activity”. (2)

Buy a Water Cooler it also helps increase staff productivity

Up to 75% of the human body is water, it helps us to digest and absorb food, carry blood around the body, and helps remove waste and toxins. Every day the body looses an average of around five pints of water. If the water that is lost is not replaced then dehydration sets in which can cause headaches, tiredness, lack of concentration, confusion and irritability not exactly ideal conditions for getting the best work out of your staff.

Find out more

If you are an employer and want to find out more about your legal obligations, or you just want more information on water please visit:
http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/
http://www.hse.gov.uk/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A13745991

Sources:

1. http://www.businesslink.gov.uk

2. http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg293.htm

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