The combination of a broken air conditioning system and one of the hottest weeks of the summer has led to some unexpected time off for a number of workers at a downtown Kitchener office building.

The building at 30 Duke Street West has been without air conditioning since Monday afternoon.

People who work in the building say the result has been little to no air flow inside, with some employees feeling as though they were close to passing out.

ServiceOntario ended up closing its office in the building on Tuesday. It remained shut on Wednesday, with a handwritten note on the door informing customers of the closure.

“I’m so upset. I took the day off work to get all of this paperwork done, and now I’m just stuck,” said Mai-Britt Mogensen, who showed up at the ServiceOntario office on Wednesday.

In a statement to CTV News, ServiceOntario says the building currently presents a health and safety issue for staff and customers, and that some staff will be redeployed to other locations until they re-open.

Other businesses in the building also sent their employees home due to concerns about the heat.

With reporting by Marc Venema