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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to consider phoning in sick to work because of the heat?

51 replies

HelpMeImMelting · 30/06/2015 12:34

I'm really struggling with this heat, and I'm considering phoning in sick to work tonight. I have a very active job, wear a bloody awful uniform that doesn't breathe and hold the heat, and the air con is broken.

I came over really faint yesterday and was sent to get a cold drink and sit down for a bit. I'm really worried that I might actually faint becuase it's warmer today.

Talk sense to me?

OP posts:
DoreenLethal · 30/06/2015 13:04

Hmm..yes I also feel faint working outside and in polytunnels in this weather. But i'd never thought to phone in sick!

Oh - I can't, it's my business. Right - well then. What to do?

HelenaDove · 30/06/2015 13:08

I agree Barbarian.

Ideas really do need to be bucked up regarding this situation but unfortunately its probably going to take a death at a school or at a workplace before they are.

MonstrousRatbag · 30/06/2015 13:08

If you make reasonable suggestions for changes to deal with the weather your employers should try to be reasonable back. Could you ask to be allowed to wear other black trousers while it is so hot (and get something in black linen or cotton); ask for regular short breaks; ask them to make cool water and water sprays available, etc?

Our admin office has a thermometer with too hot and too cold temperatures marked on it. When it gets to the too hot zone they are on to the bosses demanding (and getting) portable air con hired.

EatDessertFirst · 30/06/2015 13:16

I work in a pub kitchen and I would get utterly crucified if I called in sick because its too hot. My uniform (chef trousers and jacket) cannot be modified for h&s reasons so I just have to cope. Cold drinks and stepping out of the kitchen if I'm not cleaning or cooking.

Your emplyer needs to sort your air-con, but in the meantime, I think you should suck it up or you will never live it down.

EvansOvalPiesYumYum · 30/06/2015 13:18

DP is self-employed, in a job which requires him to enter people's loft/attic space. It is like entering a very hot oven. He doesn't cancel his job, but we tell our employee to not work if he thinks it's too hot for him as it could be very dangerous. He could pass out, and no-one would know.

DD works at a swimming pool, which also gets very hot. She (and some of her co-workers) often feel very ill with the heat - it's like working in a hothouse, but they are not allowed to leave work. It appears there is no official limit for working in heat.

MuffMuffTweetAndDave · 30/06/2015 13:21

The reason we are behind is because generally, it's not necessary. It gets this hot once a year for a few days at the most - the cost of changing our entire infrastructure would be massive and really not worth it for a few days of hot weather a year.

Yes googoo, quite possibly. But this is why the old 'they don't do this in other countries' line is really stupid. In hot countries, buildings are designed to keep cool, the population as a whole is more used to the weather, and life generally is based around it- different working hours, school hours etc. And people's work clothes and school uniforms are more likely to be designed to keep cool, not hot. Unlike ties, for example. None of those things apply here. It's the same when it snows, everything breaks down and people complain that they can manage it in Norway/Siberia/Canada. Yes, they can manage because it's like that for several months of the year and they have everything they need to live normally in it!

Original poster
HelpMeImMelting · 30/06/2015 13:21

(As an aside, I've never phoned in sick in 20 years of working.)

OP posts:
hibbledibble · 30/06/2015 13:29

Yes yabu.

Speak to management about appropriate ventilation and uniform in the hot weather. If you feel unwell at any point you can sit down, as they let you do yesterday.

You are not sick though, and phoning in sick because it is hot is ridiculous.

In my youth I worked as a lifeguard in an underground gym. It was both very hot and humid. I just got on with it. To be fair we got loads of free drinks and my uniform was shorts and a T-shirt. I did have to do lots of hard and unpleasant work though such as mopping floors and emptying the pool VAC

alltoomuchrightnow · 30/06/2015 14:09

yabu. I worked in a photo lab for 13 years and it ws super hot because of the machines. We wore uniform. Machines would get so hot they'd break down frequently and we'd have to go over the road to Burger King to beg for cups of ice to put in the developing machines. We got full on headaches every day. but you can't not do a job just because it's summer. There was never air con..and because of the machines it would often reach 120 degrees or so in the labs so customers would not hang around for long. I've never worked anywhere with air con.
Now I have two jobs... one is a pub kitchen, pot scrubbing; the industrial dishwasher is extremely hot. The other is charity shop manager, and requires a lot of steaming clothes. Not fun in the heat. But it's summer.. it's what I expect. Not fun but just get on with it (and I am really prone to headaches and migraine). Just as I expect it to be chilly in winter.. I expect to be hot in summer.

alltoomuchrightnow · 30/06/2015 14:11

I have worked in polytunnels too. tough in both winter and summer. you don't get people calling in sick because they are cold, so to call in because it's hot is crazy unless you have specific health problem (e.g. I have a friend with aspergers who can't regulate her body temperature... heat really makes her ill)

GhoulWithADragonTattoo · 30/06/2015 14:15

What is the uniform? If say suit jacket I think they should say you can wear short sleeved blouse with no jacket until air con fixed.

butterfly133 · 30/06/2015 14:27

I feel for you. If I fainted, or nearly fainted, at work, I'd be useless afterwards anyway.

Would a decent fan and a change of clothes help?

the other thing is, if you've not had one day off sick in years and you work a shift pattern, if you're sure no one else will struggle on account of you not being in - take the day to recover but don't tell them it's about the heat.

CloserToFiftyThanTwenty · 30/06/2015 14:34

Of course you can't phone in sick in advance of actually being sick Confused

You can, however, leave work if the temperature gets above a certain level (not sure off hand what it is) which is deemed unsafe to work in.

amarmai · 30/06/2015 14:45

You know your body. DO what you need to do. An aide in my mother's nursing home died from overheating in the last heat wave.It affects some people more than others.

butterfly133 · 30/06/2015 14:48

no law or even guidance on max temperatures for working

www.gov.uk/workplace-temperatures

Klayden · 30/06/2015 18:22

Sorry but YABU. It's unpleasant but it doesn't happen often and you're not actually sick. I'd speak to your employer though and explain that you are prone to fainting, so they are aware.

ShakesBootyFlabWobbles · 30/06/2015 18:24

If you are lying about being sick then YABU.

ASorcererIsAWizardSquared · 30/06/2015 18:30

we sympathise, my DH is a Welder, so he's in overalls while dealing with a furnace and molten metal all day, this weather crucifies him.

Its really just a matter of regular breaks and access to water, they keep a water cooler on site and its COLD so they can go get a drink whenever they need to!

GertrudeBell · 30/06/2015 18:34

Could you take a day's holiday?

You are not sick.

Ketchuphidestheburntbits · 30/06/2015 18:54

Do you belong to a union? Is there a work handbook that gives information about health and safety? Is there an HR person who you can speak to?

While you can't take a day off for being too hot, it is extremely unfair to expect you to work in a thick uniform with no air conditioning in an active job once the temperature goes above 30. If you start to feel at all unwell at work tell them the heat is making you unwell again and insist on being sent home to recover this time. They should have sent you home yesterday after you nearly fainted.

amarmai · 30/06/2015 21:33

i wonder if any of the pps with jobs like yours ,and saying no to you, can truthfully say they have never called in sick in 20 years? OP you need to consult your body not MN .You are not being unreasonable. Your body is telling you something that you need to act on. I was like you btw- never calling in sick. I am paying for it now healthwise.

Original poster
HelpMeImMelting · 30/06/2015 23:11

I went and really wish I hadn't. I started to get a migraine halfway through my shift and spent a while in the loos trying not to throw up my meds. I still feel really ill and hot.

Ah well. It's over and done with now. One left to do and I get a day off.

OP posts:
Kampeki · 30/06/2015 23:21

YWBU to call in sick, because you are not sick. If your working conditions aren't suitable, you need to take this up with your employer.

I really don't think it's that hot. People just aren't used to it, so they complain more. I've lived in hot countries, and it's a myth to say that there is always air conditioning etc. Not always true!!

Original poster
HelpMeImMelting · 30/06/2015 23:45

You might not think it's that hot, but heat is something I really struggle with. I'd much rather be cold!

OP posts:
Kampeki · 01/07/2015 00:08

Well, I do get that we're all different, and obviously, I'm comparing the temperatures here to other places where I've lived. I suppose the problem is that we're not used to it.

Personally, I can't stand the cold, and I especially hate snow, but I wouldn't dream of ringing in sick because of it! And yet As a nation, we seem to make just as much fuss about cold weather as we do hot!!