Staff Quit From Office Building That Has Not Had A/C Since June
The daily grind of a white-collar worker has become downright dangerous for the 1,000 inhabitants of a Beijing office building who have had to endure a summer with record-breaking temperatures without any air conditioning.
Since the beginning of June, the ironically-named Greenland Center in Beijing's east-end Tongzhou District has not had a working air conditioning system, regardless of the assertions of the building's property management.
Despite the purchase of fans and air cooling machines by many office tenants, interior temperatures at the Greenland Center average above 30 degrees Celsius, reported the Beijing Evening Report. Other reports record room temperatures of 34 to 39 degrees Celsius.
At such high temperatures, businesses operating in AC-less Greenland Center are finding that their productivity is suffering.
A worker named Miss Yuan that works on the 15th floor said heat stroke is a daily occurrence at the building, in which emergency services are often called to care for fainting victims. With two co-workers hospitalized due to office conditions, Yuan said many of her colleagues work outside the office, as the heat forces management to let workers out of work early.
A 19th-floor worker named Mr. Han said the unbearable heat is responsible for exploding his windowsill fish tank, one of many such glass-exploding instances that have happened around the building.
Yuan and Han said some 20 people have resigned from both of their offices since the office air conditioning broke down on Jun 1.
Office workers say the work conditions are inhumane. Worker Miss Chen compared working at Greenland Center to being inside a "bamboo steamer."
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"Within half an hour, I'm sweating all over," said Chen. Meanwhile, other Greenland office workers have anonymously complained of feeling dizzy and nauseous when going to work.
So far this summer, Beijing has experienced over 15 days where outside temperatures have exceeded 35 degrees Celsius, the most since 2001. Not only that, temperatures hit 39 degrees Celsius this past June, making it the hottest recorded temperature in 50 years.
For their part, Greenland property management promise the air conditioning problem will finally be fixed this week, at the same time as news of this incident has received national coverage across China.
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Unlike the heating season when Beijing has set minimum standards for room temperature, the city does not appear to have a maximum limit for interior room temperature.
But, in keeping with an environmentally-resourceful attitude, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment recommends air conditioning system be set at no lower than 26 degrees Celsius during the summer. And with China getting international praise for its frugal attitude with A/C, we can see that cutting down on air conditioning costs is a commonly-shared focus.
Images: Miaopai.com
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