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?

Maybe work somewhere that cares about your welfare? Honestly if where I worked didn't give a shit about me, I would find another job.

Today isn’t 39C!!
and those men shouldn’t be bloody working on Tuesday and Wednesday in that weather either

"It's just a bit of weather" people reminding me of one of my favourite memes 😂

weird isn't it?

quite a few people will book a holiday to Dubai in summer where temps hit mid 40's and Mallorca/Ibiza in august when temps are 40+ and roast by the pool but as soon as we have temps around 30/35 degrees in uk we go into panic.

yes our infrastructure dose'nt cope well but keep hydrated etc and you will be fine

How's that relevant? It's not a race to the bottom.

I'm pleased I'm not dressed in PPE/Working on a building site/working in a factory but I'm still not looking forward to dragging myself into the office. Especially since it's not essential - I'm not building something, inspecting anything else or manufacturing anything. I'm writing a few emails, attending some teams meetings and possibly drafting something. Everything that can be done from home.

Playing devils advocate, I can also see it from the company point of view... commuting is 'personal' time whereas working time is not. They have an air conditioned office which is probably a cooler working condition than personal wfh space. If people cannot cool their wfh space sufficiently this is a company concern and could be a lost time incident/ reportable if something were to happen. If you get too hot during a commute - this is not really their problem

If those two things were remotely the same ppl would be going to work in their bikinis

It is if you throw up when you get there

You can get heatstroke without being dehydrated.

A) those are likely to be two different groups of people and b) lying by a pool with the option of retreating to an air conditioned hotel is not the same as having to go about your normal life in roasting heat that our infrastructure can’t cope with. Why is this so hard to grasp?

Ah result, OP! Chuffed for you.

Couldn't you just change into shorts and a t-shirt before leaving work? Plenty of men rock up in full lycra and get dressed at work.

I just don't think that the average person without serious underlying health conditions is going to have too many issues being a little bit uncomfortable for an hour.

I suspect those who are saying the OP is being unreasonable haven’t done a typical London commute. It’s not sitting down on a seat on the underground for a short amount of time. Most people do 90 minutes of being squashed up against other people and stood up. I know I do. And I won’t be going into the office this week because of it.

So let’s please stop with the comparisons to Dubai holidays and other countries.

I think if you’ve got air con there is zero reason to not go to work. Unless you are a vulnerable case like you’ve mentioned.

I’m running to the office for their air con

And oddly people seem to have no issue getting to the beer garden when it's roasting. You'd think that alcohol would pose a serious risk of dehydration.

I've just got back from the gym. It was absolute bliss in there.

The OP is right when she says that the UK is never prepared for extremes of weather though...in any season. In summer, the heat causes the rails to buckle, power failures, strain on already broken health services etc; autumn and spring rains bring flooding and transport failures due to leaves on the track, and winter brings more drama because of mild snow (compared to other countries). So comparisons to other countries aren't really helpful, unless we're going to invest in infrastructure that will cope with changing weather patterns.

Is that why you failed to develop empathy, then? Sorry to hear you suffered but the cycle doesn't have to continue.

Yes, the government should ban hot weather outright.

@GoneWithTHeWindJammers Equally your parents might have been told by their forebears that going through the war was shits and giggles compared to having to walk around the streets fearing Jack the Ripper. Twas ever thus

I’m a former Londoner who now lives and works in the Caribbean, am fit, healthy, low BP, thoroughly heat and humidity acclimated, including volunteer work outdoors - and there is NO WAY i would voluntarily walk home through London at 5pm in 40 degrees during a Red Alert heatwave, or take public transport if it was possible to WFH.

Heat and humidity are fucking dangerous. Take them seriously. Bosses and schools should not insist people come in if they can avoid travel.

You’ve obviously never been on the tube in the summer then if you think it being 40 degrees doesn’t affect the heat underground if you’re on a broken train.

Our little boys nursery is only doing half days (7.30-12) for child and staff safety. So parents are having to take annual leave to cover!

I think if you drive an air conditioned car to an air conditioned office it’s fine, but other work places should consider workers safety and comfort!

You have air conditioning. Try working in a hospital. Just go to work and enjoy the cool air.