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?

Yanbu OP. At all. I wouldn't risk cramming onto a tube train. Can they not read the room? Call in sick if they don't see sense.

Properly lol’ing

Some of them must be trolling. Nobody can be as thick as some of these comments suggest, surely?

Yes.

The employees take annual leave then, because the businesses are not open!!

OP can take her annual leave I’m sure!

Everything you say is nonsense. In fact it is remarkable how wrong you are on every point.
London is hotter due to the surfaces
other countries infrastructure is built were built fir these temperatures. Ours isn’t b

You do know that the tube runs all over London for approximately 250 miles in total.

How early are you suggesting the OP gets up.

The commute I used to do on the underground from the part of London I lived in then to the centre used to take 45 minutes on the actual train. In addition to that I had a bus journey or 20 minutes walk to get to the tube station beforehand and another 10 minutes walk at the other end to my office.

Not really a journey you can walk in blistering heat first thing in the morning.

Walking to work slowly would take me around 3hrs. So walking there and back slowly would mean walking for 6 hours in a red heat alert. Plus I’d only be in the office for 2.5hours to account for school drop off and pick up. Who’s benefitting in your scenario?

Not me, as I’d likely get very ill but even if not, I’d get really behind in my work

Not my work as I’m only doing a couple of hours instead of a full day

Not official services if I collapse from walking said 6hrs in 40 degree heat and have to use up resources

Some people on here really have very few critical thinking skills

Surely the people who must travel into London would welcome those who don't have to staying at home? I speak as one who can't WFH, but if I was taking public transport in a city I'd be very happy if it at least wasn't packed like sardines! The tube is horrible when it's hot but more bearable if you can sit down, have a bit of space around you and use a little fan and drink water. Not so much when you're wedged into an unfragrant armpit and have no air circulation.

Or don't work at all. But they are very good at telling other people what to do.

We are in the red alert area. My son is a scaffolder. They have to wear PPE including steel toe-capped boots and hard hats. The scaffolding poles sit in the heat all day - and sometimes they have to dismantle in the afternoon. They can't wear shorts. In other countries people start earlier, but they can't start early as the sites can't open before a set time. There is very little shade. The mitigation is "make sure you have lots of water & wear sunscreen". Personally I think there needs be thought given to at least lifting the time restriction on sites (or at least those in largely industrial areas) so that they can start much earlier and finish before it gets ridiculous.

ETA it's people in blue-collar jobs bearing the brunt of the heat and they will probably be expected to get on with it

Not in my experience. When I was stuck on a failed tube train for almost 2 hours in a much milder heatwave than this, it was hell, and became frightening very fast. It put me off the underground tbh, and now I only use it when there is no other alternative.

Oh sure, I won’t bother collecting my child, I’ll sip a matcha instead 🙄

You see the crucial point here is…I’m not delivering someone’s chemo. I’m running a few meetings about brand packaging 🥴 Engage your brain love!

I do wonder if part of the vitriol on this thread is because OP is in London.

I remember the early days on MN, and one of the ways to start a bunfight was to comment on how difficult it was to get home when.... [insert event of your choice to bring London to a halt]. There was a lot of SAHM vs WOHM antipathy fuelling that then, admittedly.

But in case anybody is wondering just how hot it is....

The heatwave hadn't even started this weekend and I happened to have a number of events to attend across London. Both involved un-airconditioned trains and tubes.

For event no1: I showered 20 minutes before leaving. I could smell myself by the end of the journey and I'm somebody who doesn't tend to have a problem with BO. That's how hot and sweaty it was. I bailed on the 20 minute walk to the destination at the end and ordered an Uber as I was so overwhelmed by it all, and I'm a life long Londoner.

For event no2: I was with two fit, healthy, bouncy 7yo boys and I feel we only survived it by making sure we had opportunities to sit down after walking through boiling tube stations and concourses, and we all drank about 1l of fluid plus ate our own body weight in salted pretzels during the journey there and back. And the event we were going to was in an airconditioned theatre where we sat down for a good hour.

I'm quite worried about my husband getting home from a conference he is currently at, on Wednesday, as it will involve crossing affected parts of the South and London.

I'm parked at home until then anyway, in case my son's school decides to close.

..I’m sure’

Are you? So you missed the bit where the OP said she is required to be there for an in person meeting then?

If you try to RTFT you might avoid the rather unfortunate impression you’re giving of your powers of comprehension.

Well the thing is if you’re the fainting type or have any sort of illness or even didn’t sleep properly the night before it is best to stay at home if you can rather than risking burdening the emergency services more than they already will be. Can you not work from home OP?

@FounderflowerI agree with you. I have a long commute into London just to sit in an, albeit lovely, air conditioned office to do all the work I could do from home. I’m not going to risk going in. When there was the heatwave in May, my train was cancelled and it took me over two hours to get home. When I finally got on the (reduced carriage train), it was completely packed with tired, hot and exhausted passengers. One woman looked like she was going to be sick but luckily wasn’t. I said to myself after that ordeal that I wouldn’t go in again during a heatwave. If I could walk to the office the. I’d absolutely go in because it’s a nice working environment, but I’m very concerned about the commute and the railway infrastructure failing. It’s safer and much more sensible to just work from home home.

Of course, there has been no email from management about taking appropriate and sensible action. They just expect everyone in. It’s ridiculous and dangerous.

I don’t expect to see people collapsing from the heat on Wednesday or Thursday.

this made me really giggle.

@beasmithwentworth have you phoned the government to tell them that they’re wrong? You should do! I feel reassured now.

Its funny how the solutions that people have to the hot weather is staying home and keeping dc off school. No one thinks "the country can't just stop, I know I'll get into work early before it gets hot"

You will be fine on your journey in because it won't have reach peak temperatures at that time. Your office is air conditioned so you only have to avoid death on the way home. I reckon you will make it through unless you have some kind of health condition.

Yes getting too and from the office will be hot but surely being in an air conditioned office for the peak part of the day is more preferable?

You clearly have never been on the Central Line in a heat wave before 😂

We can't just close down the country because of a bit of sunshine. Whatever happened to British people keeping a stiff upper lip? Whatever happened to "keep calm and carry on"? I have been in work today and it's been fine, no-one has fainted, no-one has died.

I live in a very warm country. When there is a red alert, people are not forced to go in to work. People working outside are prohibited from working during the hours 12-16. Measures are taken seriously. We respect the heatwaves and protect workers. UK infrastructure is not appropriate fro these temps- bosses should accept it and make allowances for these extreme circumstances.

The problem isn’t getting in, it’s getting home since for people working standard office hours that’s the hottest part of the day. It’s not going to get back below 30 until after 11pm.