Is your office ready for winter?

The temperature has really started to drop over the past few weeks, so it looks like winter is arriving very soon. So, now is the ideal time to start thinking about whether any tweaks need to be made to your office space to ensure that you are fully prepped for the next few months ahead.

Would your business be ready for a harsh winter of ice and snow? If not, there might be some things you can implement now to save time and money later in the season.

Here is a short checklist of things you might need to consider going into winter:

Heating

When was the last time you had your heating system checked? Having a scheduled maintenance check might cost a couple of hundred pounds, but if the heating fails and you have to call out for an emergency job in the middle of winter, then this could be extremely costly, and might also mean sending employees home until it is fixed. It’s worth getting everything checked out now to ensure no faults occur later on.

Think about the comfort of your employees – will they be warm enough in the office? Additional freestanding heaters might be a good idea to bring into the office, in addition to your central heating, just in case some employees require extra heating around their desks than others.

Also, consider keeping the heating on low over weekends and during Christmas holidays and Bank holidays to avoid frozen or burst pipes. Frozen pipes are most likely to burst in very cold weather when offices are left empty so by leaving some heating on during these times, you are avoiding the risk of anything freezing up.

Lighting

When the natural light gets less and less on both a morning and an evening, you might want to consider making changes to your office lighting. The start of winter is a great time to upgrade your lighting systems in the office and LED light panels are a great choice for offices of all sizes.

LED panels are very cost-efficient over time, as well as offering a much cleaner and safer light emittance than incandescent bulbs. Dimmable LEDs are also available, so you can change the amount of light in the office easily, depending on the time of day and amount of natural light coming in.

For health and safety reasons, it is important that you also consider extra lighting outside your building and in parking bays for dark mornings and evenings, especially when its icy and dangerous. Keep employees, suppliers, and guests as safe as possible with external LED lights, which come on when the natural light fades.

Roofing and Guttering

Before it the wind and snow kicks in, it is worth checking your building’s roof for loose tiles or slates. You might also want to consider removing dead branches from old trees to avoid them causing damage if blown over onto your building.

Also, as leaves start to fall from the trees, there is a risk that the leaves and branches will end up in your gutters and drainpipes, which could get clogged up and blocked. If this builds up, the water will go back into the guttering and may start to leak into the roof and sides of your office. Make sure that gutters are regularly checked every few weeks to avoid this happening.