Should school be opening without hot water?

[potatooo]

Just that - our local primary school has no hot water due to broken system - heating on though. It’s freezing and snowing here, so at least they’re warm. BUT isn’t it gross to have not hot water and remain open? Proper hand washing/washing dishes surely needs hot water??

Hands are not made clean by hot water but by soap

hot water is nice but not essential

children need to learn that sometimes life isn’t perfect

The UK Health and Safety at Work Act required workplaces to have a source of hot and cold running water. The school should close for this reason, rather than the kids.

I taught in a Swiss school for many years. We were not allowed hot water in the toilets on the premiss that the children could have scalded themselves. We didn’t have hot water in the staff toilets either. This was Swiss law. I got used to it in the end but the water was very cold in the winter!

We had no hot water in our school for several weeks (and also a broken dishwasher in the kitchen). Didn't close.
When some of the older children went home and complained about no hot water for washing hands, the head double checked the state of affairs with the H&Safety peeps at the local county.

We were told that soap and water was enough, hot water wasn't needed. The kitchen were having to boil kettles for washing up.

The water temperature is down to comfort and doesn’t affect the efficacy of hand washing germs off. Cold water and soap is just as good.

Ideally, they should have hot water, but I doubt it'll do any warm. If you have a child at the school, you could ask for sanitiser in the toilets or maybe provide your child with hand wipes. When the boiler in the last house packed up in winter, we didn't have any hot water for a month - we didn't keep a kettle full of hot water for every time someone wanted to wash their hands and we were all fine.

I didn’t realise so many people washed hands with cold water. I’ve always used water as hot as I can stand but if that isn’t needed to kill germs I guess school should stay open.
I will say that my grown up children had one sickness bug each their whole childhood. They have been taught thorough handwashing from being tiny. My nurse mother drilled it into me as a kid and I did the same with my own.

It is much safer for kids to be in school with no hot water than for the whole school to be closed and children placed in inappropriate childcare.

Yes they should. Cold water and soap is fine for hands, plus our old friend hand sanitiser and disinfectant spray will do the germ warfare.

And paper plates and cups and disposable forks can be used if necessary as a temporary measure until it's back on.

Thermal underwear if the heating's off too.

Our school had to close for 2 days a while ago as there was no hot water.

I’m guessing you want the school to close! It’s happened to a local primary school near me last week and it remained open so definitely not unusual. From a hygiene perspective, as long as they use soap they will be fine.

Who genuinely thinks the boys wash their hands properly?

Imagine closing a school because of no hot water.

In the school I work, there is no hot water in the bathrooms anyway, so makes no difference.

We don't even close if the heating breaks down because it would inconvenience parents too much and cause a big issue, and then the region might have to actually do something about it. It gets down to 5° and below in the winter. Apparently there are no minimum safe temperatures. We're in France though.

Where in Scotland was minus 18?

Why - you don’t need hot water to get through the school day

Probably Braemar. It's been below that a few times in the last 20 years there.

The primary school I work at has had no hot water and no heating for over a week now. The head decided to stay open as, “minimum temperature is only a guideline, not the law,” it’s been thoroughly miserable.

You need soap and water. Hand sanitizer isn't a substitute especially if you have had a poo!

Aberdeenshire.

Well spotted!

I would say that if the dishwasher is broken, this would be a problem. The amount of washing up is immense. Boiling a couple of kettles up at a time would take absolutely ages, and barely cover the bottom of the sink.
Also, paper plates etc cost an absolute fortune!
I'm not sure whether or not school should close, but water needs fixing asap.

The girls dont wash their hands any more than the boys do. What a strange comment.

PMSL that anyone thinks primary school children do a particularly good job of washing their hands anyway.

I once accompanied DD’s class on a school trip. Almost without exception the method of washing hands was as followed (which is wrong as you’d know if you’ve ever read handwashing instructions in a hospital):

1. put soap on hands first (WRONG!)
2. turn on any old tap
3. put hands under tap and watch pressure of water remove most of the soap from hands
4. feebly rub hands together with whatever dregs of the soap remain on hands

What was slightly more shocking was that so many adults also wash their hands like this.

Water first!!!!

Conversely if they didn't open, you'd have parents complaining that schoo had closed, they were having to take a day off work etc because there wasn't aome hot water, despite heating etc being fine.

Schools can’t win as if they close, parents complain they have to take time off work. They will survive using cold water and soap 🙄 if they bother to wash their hands. The kitchen will use disposable plates and cups and they can boil water. Don’t panic it’s not a big deal.