To think employers should be required to provide air conditioning

[SweatingToTheGrave]

Yes I'm moaning about the heat!

I'm sat in the office which is a literal sun trap, sweating like hell, pregnant and with one measley fan blowing hot air in my face. My clothes are literally sticking to me and it's actually making me feel ill now.

AIBU to think that employers should be required by law to provide air conditioning for these sorts of weather conditions? I honestly feel like I can't work productively at all today.

Okay some might tell me to get a grip and maybe I'm being OTT because of the hormones but why should I sit here sweating through my clothes, feeling sick and with a headache because employers aren't required to have proper provisions in place

I'm considering not coming at all tomorrow if it's like this again!

My local office is awful during the afternoon, as the heat just builds because it has glass walls. People end up booking out meeting rooms to work in purely because they are cool.

Due to the temperatures today I drove an hour out of my way to work at a different office which had actual air con. It was bliss.

Im somewhat lucky in that I can work from home if needs be, but today my house wouldn't have been much in this heat!

I do think employers should provide suitable working conditions. If that requires air con, then so be it.

God I'm with you! My work has a glass roof and it was over 40 degrees today. No air con here either :(

I'm with you OP. I genuinely would not have taken my current job had I realised they did not have air con. It's been unbearable this week. I've never worked anywhere without it and hadn't considered that possibility.

I don't really understand the 'well I do a physical job so therefore YABU' argument.

I'm sorry that you're even more uncomfortable than I am but it doesn't help my situation...

And no pregnancy isn't an illness but it contributes to feeling even hotter than someone who isn't pregnant. It does things to your body, changes things, makes certain things harder etc... not an illness no but stupid to say it has no affect on you at all.

When l was pregnant my employer would not let me go into hot or cold environments. It was more to do with sensitivity to sudden temperatures changes, but you should be properly assessed for risks as a pregnant person, which includes heat stress.

Why should merely being pregnant get anyone special treatment in the office, they're not ill!

To keep them and their baby alive.

Pregnancy may not be an illness but it does impact on health, most are lucky to just have stretch marks, some are unlucky and require heart transplants.

Risk assessments should be done whenever there is a change to a work environment or changes to the employee.

Employers are obliged to provide a safe working environment.

its not just employers. Housing association Thirteen Housing Group have nailed their tenants windows shut.

www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/broken-windows-nailed-shut-heatwave-16646867

Yanbu.
They should at least have to supply fans, good ventilation, make allowance for staff to work from home if possible.
It is not like there's a heatwave every week.

It is not like there's a heatwave every week.

But they are happening more regularly. The 20 warmest years on record have all occurred within the last 22 years. public.wmo.int/en/media/press-release/wmo-climate-statement-past-4-years-warmest-record

We need a complete shift in how we live our lives. Rather than using air conditioning which contributes the problem of co2 emissions, we’ve got to adapt in other ways or we are just going to make the problem worse. Besides which, I find that being in air conditioned buildings only makes me feel even hotter when I go outside again. Better to acclimatise.

Things that help me feel more comfortable in the heat:
Wearing natural fibres
Drinking more water
Spraying water on my arms/neck
Using an old fashioned pleated fan
Slowing my breathing down. Or (if no-one else is around!) using a yoga breathing exercise called Sitali breath m.youtube.com/watch?v=y4B_Kestynw

We also need to be planting more trees- for shade as well as to absorb co2.

Similarly, to the pp who made the point about central heating- yes, we do all need to be less reliant on it. We just need to wear more clothes!

What about medication that has to be stored above 5c but below 25

Should we start lobbying manufacturers to acclimatize the medication that they make?

Ahem

notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2015/07/10/eco-homes-too-hot-in-summer/

Should we start lobbying manufacturers to acclimatize the medication that they make?

No. Obviously.

I would require them to let office workers work from home during this weather instead.

Thanks for the Daily Mail article about poorly designed housing making this worse. I completely agree: architects, scientists, town planners, housing associations, builders and local councils all need to prioritise making sure new building are designed to be suitable for more extreme temperatures, as a matter of urgency. This article has some interesting ideas: www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/designing-buildings-for-hot-climates-cold-ones-and-everything-in-between-180954003/

Thanks Bottle.

I just saw this Makes for shocking reading.

eu.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-investigations/2019/07/17/phoenix-family-dollar-store-without-air-conditioning-weeks-temperatures-rise/1739549001/

@HelenaDove- Yes, I agree that article is shocking. Could you say a bit more about what you take from it?

When I read it I see:

• Poor building design and construction not suitable for the climate.
• Unscrupulous employer failing to provide a safe working environment for their employees, or comply with basic food hygiene legislation for the products they’re selling.
• American government failing to ensure employment laws include standards about safe workplace temperatures.
• The media referring to ‘excessive heat warnings’, and describing the impact of this on residents’ daily lives and health, but making no mention of how climate change is contributing to this.

Temperatures are rising more rapidly in Arizona than any other state in the US, and this is affecting every aspect of life there. www.demos.org/research/economic-and-environmental-impacts-climate-change-arizona

The website you linked to is well aware of this because they published this article last May: eu.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-environment/2017/06/29/study-predicts-rising-heat-deaths-costs-arizona-climate-change/439573001/

Phoenix is America’s 5th largest city, and it is going to be uninhabitable in approx 30 years. With or without air conditioning. That is going to be a lot of climate refugees needing to find somewhere else to live. cleantechnica.com/2017/09/29/climate-change-may-make-phoenix-uninhabitable-2050/ 1.6 million just within the city itself.

The vicious cycle of rising temperatures/increased use of air conditioning/increased carbon emissions/rising temperatures is a tiny example of feedback loops going on all over the world which mean the dire predictions of the IPCC report are actually best-case scenarios.

But I wonder if you posted the link to try to make a different point?