Air conditioning is sometimes thought of as a first-world luxury – something that makes life easier and more pleasant, but that you can also do without if necessary so is air conditioning a luxury? Increasingly, however, this assumption is being challenged by recent events. Air conditioning is being presented and accepted as the equal counterpart to heating, and its absence in occupied commercial properties can lead to unpleasant consequences.

Air Conditioning Troubles on the News

Air conditioning does not seem like a likely topic for a news report, but it has in fact made headlines on a few recent occasions – or, to be more precise, the lack of it has. Last year, a woman in a mental health facility in Tuscaloosa, Alabama died of hyperthermia due to a broken air conditioner, and the facility is now facing a wrongful death lawsuit as a result. Even more recently (on July 7, 2016), improper air conditioning lead to a 1,000-worker strike during construction of a hospital in Montreal in the midst of a heat wave. In these cases, people lacking access to air conditioning produced terrible results that could easily have been avoided, suggesting that it cannot be dismissed as a mere frivolity.

The Heating and Ventilation Precedent

Once you’ve accepted the idea that air conditioning can be thought of as a necessity, the reasoning behind that classification becomes clear. Heating and ventilation, air conditioning’s close cousins, are almost universally considered to be necessary amenities. If a building is improperly ventilated and a toxic element like smoke or carbon dioxide builds up in the air inside it, the owner of the building could be at fault for any illnesses that the toxicity caused the occupants to contract. The same goes for problems arising from a building being inadequately heated in cold weather.

Extreme Heat is Increasingly Common

Nowadays, extreme heat is more of a problem than ever before. This past May was the hottest global month on record, and there is every indication that heat records will continue to be surpassed at an astounding rate. This means that there will continue to be days, sometimes with very little warning, on which it is more than hot enough to pose a serious threat to human well-being. While U.K. weather tends to be milder than that of the U.S. or Canada, where the newsworthy incidents occurred, we can no longer expect temperature fluctuations to be predictable or to remain within the bounds of moderation, and must take precautions to accommodate these changes. You wouldn’t think twice about the need for heat on extremely cold days, so why should hot weather be any different?

Stop the Problems Before They Arise

Investing in a good, reliable air conditioning system is a pro-active step in the face of this growing issue. Air conditioning maintenance is another factor to consider; simply acquiring a system and never cleaning or updating it until something goes wrong is a sure-fire way to make sure that something will go wrong, given enough time. Getting a top-rated air conditioning system with professional installation and regular upkeep is the best way to demonstrate that maintaining safe temperatures is a responsibility your business takes seriously.

If you’re thinking about getting a commercial-grade air conditioning system installed, remember that AirCentric carries a wide variety of such systems and has the expertise necessary to help you find the right one for your business needs. We already have many satisfied customers in the U.K., and we would be happy to count you among them.