Work not taking red alert seriously

[Founderflower]

Why are some people not taking the red weather warning seriously? Where I am it’s 39 degrees on Wed/ Thur but ‘feels like’ 42 according to BBC.

At work they’re expecting everyone in - the office is air conditioned, so fine, but we’re central London so everyone needs to schlep in on public transport.

Red means a danger to life and not just for vulnerable people. Some people who are healthy will die because of the weather. There’s warnings of power outages and transport failures. So what happens if we get stuck on a broken down underground train?

I KNOW other countries see these temps regularly. But they are prepared for dealing with it. England is not and it fucks up. I don’t want a heart attack from sitting in 48 degree heat on a train. I’m really stressed out!

If it were a red warning around severe wind or rain or flooding they wouldn’t be telling everyone to come in! So why is heat seen differently?

1. I’m a woman, stop the sexist terminology.
2. Incorrect - danger to life has specifically been called out as applying even to healthy adults
3. I don’t want a day in the garden. It’s 40 degrees. I want to sit in my bedroom with the aircon unit and work from home. Like I do every Friday.

I think you’re being dramatic! You have aircon. Just because it’s hot, it doesn’t mean you can’t leave the house. If you had health issues I get it. Take lots of water (maybe freeze half a bottle overnight) and a hand held fan and dress appropriately. The world can’t stop when it’s hot … how crazy!

This is quite a good article talking about this location

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-44980493

Yes we know it's hotter in Australia. The difference is that life is designed around that. And even Australia is getting hotter conditions that it can cope with now.

Sorry but if your office is air conditioned you are being totally unreasonable. Take the journey slow, carry water and a small fan. Enjoy the a/c office!!

You are a former nurse who isnt bothered about how this could affect your ex coleugues if more ppl were to fall ill because of this weather. So your post not the great optics you think it is

People saying you should walk to work clearly have never lived in London. If I walked to work (from zone 3 – so not far out) it would take approximately 2 hours.

I agree with you. People should be allowed to stay at home. The tube in summer should be treated as a public health emergency. Central and Victoria lines are particularly dire.

I’ve been to so many poorer countries that have air-con on public transport.

You are correct - it has become a health and safety issue. I used to manage woodlands where if high winds were forecast we closed paths because of the risk of falling trees. The risk may have been low (the winds might not be as strong, the trees might not fall, if the trees fell there may not be anyone underneath them) but it existed and it was the sensible (and legally correct) thing to do to close the site. It's proportionate and a day or two wfh on red alert days seems a sensible idea.

The decision may be made for.you. In 2022 we had three days of near 40 degree heat and many train compnies proactively cancelled services. I worked from home as I could not actually get in to our office in central London (well I could, but fuck spending 70 mins on a bus in 40 degree heat).

I think that's part of the issue actually. They deny there's a problem with the climate because they know deep down their lifestyles are contributing to it and they don't want to give up their SUVs or their ski-ing holidays.

Extreme temperatures are an unwelcome reminder that their lifestyles are damaging the world we live in.

Have you raised this with your boss, OP? I think it would be fair enough to show them the official warning and explain that you can't take precautions such as travelling earlier or later because of childcare, and that you will be able to work from home. Honestly, I would probably just email something like, "Hi boss, I'll be working from home tomorrow and Wednesday because of the heat. Unfortunately I can't work around it by travelling in earlier and leaving later, since I'll need to still provide care for my children." Just present it as a fait accompli. What are they going to do, tell you you need to go against the official advice or abandon your kid in order to get to the office?

I'd suggest you read the actual warning. Here it is: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ukhsa-issues-red-heat-health-alerts-across-england

Especially

A red heat-health alert indicates that a severe heatwave could have impacts beyond health and social care with potential effects on transport systems, food, water, energy supplies and businesses, and indicates a risk to life for even the healthy population.

If options like start earlier aren't avaliable to you - then take the days off as annual leave or e-mail higher ups and state your concerns about coming in and ask why this can not be a teams meeting and wfh situation this once - you may find you are not alone in not wanting to head in.

The air conditioned office should help - as it's prolonged exposure to the higher temps that often does the damage but I've been on underground in hot weather and frankly I wouldn't want to use it during this red hot weather warning.

Well, it's only ever going to get hotter, for the rest of their lives and their kids lives and so on...

I worked in London when it was I think 38c years ago and the tubes were horrendous in the 40s temp wise. The buses were reported as 52c because I remember the newspaper headline! However that was before people could work from home so it does seem silly you can’t. We just had to get on with it and it wasn’t pleasant

I'm surprised people think the tube and rail services will be operating as normal. Given the predicted temperatures I suspect there will be a lot of disruption and cancellations within the red warning zone. The infrastructure generally can't cope with this level of heat.

This is true. GWR has already said they are cancelling some routes because they want to try and minimise points failures. I wouldn’t be surprised to see other cancellations as a result of overhead lines slackening, rails warping and trackside fires as well.

So many ostriches on this thread burying their heads in the sand.

The added advantage of a day off is you can watch the England match and then have a nice lie in. Maybe that's what bosses are wary of?

We get these warnings very few year.

Usually while telling SH tenants that we are the entitled ones. I dont have kids. Last time i went abroad was a school trip to Switzerland in 1986 forty years ago. I dont own a car i dont drive.

Check your train/rail operator, they may cancel trains as they actually can't run when the rails are too hot.

Considering you have air con in your office (which most people don’t) then YABU.

It’s literally just your commute that you have to deal with the heat, like every other worker or child who goes to school/college.

I think you’re being a bit dramatic.

I’m sure you realise that hospital staff, police, social workers, midwives etc can’t just stop work because of the heat.
If they’re expected to carry on whilst dealing with the heat all day then I’m sure you can manage for a couple of hours between being in your air conditioned office.

I haven't worked in London since the early 90s, but I do remember the stifling heat on tube trains which had been sitting in outdoor sidings all day ready for rush hour. Simply unbearable!

You've never been on a London tube train in the heat have you?