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?

People make their own risk assessments.

An employer isn't responsible if you jump into an icy river to cool down and drown.

An employer isn't responsible whether your ac works in the car or the house.

If you don't feel happy about travelling on a hot day, or in the snow, then don't. Take a day of leave (not sick).

Your employer is not your parent.
Your employer is not a social service.

They don't owe you a duty of care outside work, and you don't owe them any of your time and attention outside your contracted hours and services.

Will you be paying your builder to not work today because it's too hot for him, or because he'll have to travel in the heat? Of course you won't- despite being his de facto employer that day.

Yes it does, if it's dangerous to get into work they should be taking that into account, the same as they would if there were floods or a blizzard.

Cars can stop working roads issues stuck in traffic in extreme heat even driving is a risk

I would t be expecting a builder to work today unless they stated early and only did a few hours .
But if they are also travelling to me of course that's a consisderation

Have you spent time on a packed London bus in the heat? Do you realise some people don’t have the option of going in early and staying late? What about those with a 2 and 4 year old in a nursery or with a childminder.

I'm already fed up with these red alerts, they make everyone panic and feel they can't do normal daily activities.
Inevitably everything gets cancelled and then the storm doesn't happen, or it's just a bit windy, or similar. They never live up to their hype and afterwards you always wonder why they made such a fuss.
Just live as normal with minor adjustments: take water if it's hot, take a brolly if it's raining, don't walk in the woods if it's windy

@Founderflower genuine question- your happy to take your child to someone who can’t work from home to look after all day (whether it be school/nursery etc) but are concerned about travelling because of danger to your life?

Sorry but make it make sense

Can you please explain why the OP's fears are unfounded?

Having travelled in poor countries with higher heat witih no air con and higher humidity... they just get on with it. The idea they all go siesta: not true at all. Agricultural workers are still working in the fields, office workers still commuting & working in the office, kids still walking to & from school (schools with no aircon). If it's over 40, PE might be tamed down, I suppose. People who wear huge amounts of clothes to do their jobs: still do.

I had a funny conversation with colleague in Vietnam. Schools close if temps get down to 10 deg C and... that's it. No upper limit considered too hot. State schools, no aircon.

Dare I say the population of Italy is a little slimmer than the UK. That probs makes a fair difference.

Some really stupid people on this thread who have obviously never lived or worked in London.

People saying to walk to work…my commute on the tube from north London is 50 mins door to door. It’s a three and half hour walk.
Thankfully, I can work from home and have a sensible work place who have told us to stay at home

Arguably travelling on the London underground (for the people that absolutely have to) would be more pleasant if less people were there. This is like the general WFH debate (not just during heatwaves) where people talk about how it's "unfair" if one person has to go into work so everyone should. But my neighbour WFH most days and he takes in my parcels for me so it indirectly benefits me even if I have to go into work.
Life isn't a zero sum game all the time.

My employer (large national organisation) has an extreme weather policy and certainly does advise employees not to travel to work when there are dangerous weather conditions. We still get paid.

Maybe you've just had rubbish employers, or are a rubbish employer yourself.

I’m glad you can wfh OP. The stupidity on this thread is unbelievable. I think it’s a mix of ‘stiff upper lip’ Reform trolls, climate change deniers, people who resent Londoners, people who resent those who can wfh, and those who have zero idea of what commuting on the tube is like and they themselves don’t work or have a very short walk or drive to work.

I live in London. I did commute to work in I think 2022 when it was about 40 degrees, as it was worth it for me to get to the AC office. That was 20 minutes on the tube and a 10 minute walk either end. I was able to leave very early morning which was ok but the tube home and 10 minute walk was like being in a furnace. No amount of cool clothing, hand held fan and water helps that much. I did appreciate people staying off the tube if they could wfh, as it does make it cooler if you are not actively pressed up against other people.

I feel the same, I have a 6 hour round trip on the train to the London office and then we have to do a team building outdoor treasure hunt 2 til 4 round London in the heat 🙈 I can’t understand it

I despair. A bit of hot weather does not make it "dangerous to get into work".

Good ideas on here re avoid rush hour times and travel early am and late home. Do take water.
The air con in the office will be amazing!
or book a days leave

That sounds like hell even without it being hotter than usual 😂

I despair, people don't seem to understand how dangerous high heats are especially in a country not built for it! Come back to us after Thursday if you actually have to go to work with no air con!

She's said she has to take her kid to school first so is unable to go into work early.

That's what the 'pull up your socks' posters seem to be missing. Why not clear the way as much as possible to make life easier for essential workers and people in emergency services? Those of us who can should use as few resources as possible for a few days.

If the whole population is going to get heat stroke from a few days of hot weather then they need to take a good long look at themselves. Take sensible precautions, like people in other countries seem to manage to do.

Apart from anything else it's just shit messaging for employees that the company couldn't give a shiny shit about their health and comfort. OP is fairly senior, they are stupid to risk her getting fed up with them. As the CEO has now realised.

I'm not in the UK, so no, I won't be back after Thursday. I have however spent many years working in hot weather, and we didn't have air con at work when I was younger. We just got on with it, as we did in the hottest ever day here (over 40C) when I was at school, once again with no air con. Air con is more common now because we didn't just sit around moaning, we did something.

I've been hearing about Brits not being able to cope with hot weather for a long time, maybe it's about time you started learning how to do it. Whinging Poms springs to mind, you would rather complain than actually do anything pro-active.

You know better than those Met office softies with their MScs in modelling weather patterns, right?