Travel to work (Amber Weather Warning)

[ffscovid]

An Amber weather warning has been issued for our area for Friday.
According to the Met Office, this means that 'there is a good chance that flying debris could result in danger to life' and that there's a risk that roads and the railway etc. could have to close.
We live rurally and have to travel through narrow lanes where fallen trees and flooding are a real possibility. It's a reasonable distance to work and not being able to get home (and also to collect children from school) is a real concern.
Would it therefore be unreasonable to expect to not have to travel to work on Friday? This is for a job that is neither 'key worker' nor customer-facing and has some clerical elements that can be done from home and the rest of the hours that can't be done remotely could be made up - either in advance by staying later today and tomorrow, or by catching up on Monday and Tuesday next week.
Would this be acceptable in your workplace as a reason to not go to work?

It depends - whether it is a good reason or not depends on whether you would travel in the same conditions for a social occasion/something you want to do. If you would then you should go to work.

What have you done previously in your working career on days like this? We get Amber weather warnings several times a year surely. I would expect to go to work unless I woke up and physically couldn't move from the drive as a tree had fallen, or if the street was covered in snow. I think yanbu to request a wfh day but I don't think it's a given if you ordinarily would be expected to go to the office.

If everyone asked to work from would the business be able to operate as normal?

I don’t think most workplaces would let people stay home based on what may happen.

As long as it was discussed and agreed with your employer beforehand I don't think they can reasonably expect someone to come into the office if it is actively dangerous and you can do some work from home.

I think it would only be an issue if you called on the day and said "I'm not coming in because of the weather" without any notice as it could be seen as a cover for skiving off.

Friday does look exceptionally bad

we have been told the office is open but ideally work from home

Good employers will risk asses with the safety of staff and customers /service users in mind.

Where risk to life outweighs the risk of staff wfh or not attending the workplace, or shutting etc then the employer should be actively taking that view and clearly articulating their plans and where staff or users are expected to travel how they will mitigate risk to life and their expectations around that.

For amber id say you should still go to work, I don't think others would be staying at home like super market workers, drs, bus drivers etc x

I’d wait until Friday and see what it is actually like. If it’s dangerous to go then call them with actual facts and ask.

@DDfollowed

It depends - whether it is a good reason or not depends on whether you would travel in the same conditions for a social occasion/something you want to do. If you would then you should go to work.

In 90-100mph winds, I would not be going out in any circumstances unnecessarily.

I'm supposed to be teaching on campus tomorrow but I just got an email from the head of department telling us to switch our face-to-face classes to Zoom due to the weather.

Scotrail announced yesterday that all trains are off from 4pm today and there's no way I would want to drive if I didn't have to.

You can't really decide in advance - it depends what it's like on the day, but if you work inside and can safely get to work, I don't see why you would expect not to go in?

I'm a dog walker and we're on an Amber warning now. I worked this morning as normal in 40mph gusts (all dogs on leads though). My cut-off for walks is normally 50mph though it really depends on the dog and where we'll be walking.

I don't think an Amber warning on it's own is a reason to miss work, it depends on where you live and what the transport is like.

What would you have done prior to March 2020? If you would have gone in, then you should go in.

Bouts of severe weather like this are quite common in UK, with Amber warnings issued. In 23 years of working, I've never not gone in due to an amber weather warnings, and I'd imagine prior to March 2020, most honestly, would say the same. I'd also imagine like me the majority didn't give it much thought and just got on with things

The only times in my working life where my boss told me to stay at home was on a red weather warning. I had left the house but there was no public transport and trees down everywhere. Phoned my boss and he told me to go home.

Another red warning and we all got sent home early.

There are fairly regular amber warnings where I live.

Just speak to your boss about it and see if you can take some sort of leave if you're worried about it.

Our local council has asked everyone to work from home on Friday. It does look bad.

I work in aviation so can't work from home, I'm on shift Friday. With previous amber warnings we are still expected in, only on red warnings have they sent us home or told us not to come in.

Thanks for all comments. We live in a rural area (National park). Roads range from very narrow unclassified lanes to slightly bigger 'B' roads, many of which pass through woodland area so trees / branches falling are a real worry in very high winds. The forecast for here is gusts up to 90-100mph.
We often have yellow weather warnings for wind, but Amber is quite rare.
I'm actually the employer not the employee and was trying to gauge whether it would be expected or even the right thing to do, to suggest to my members of staff that they don't travel on Friday, so long as they can put in the extra hours today / tomorrow / Monday / Tuesday so we don't fall behind.

You could offer it to staff but many won't be able to work longer hours on the other days.

In my workplace it would be, and is, reasonable. We are strongly encouraged (also pre covid in such cases) to not travel in, it is a large office, we still have home office anyway, but we are based in a European country so the employers are basically forced to do the morally right thing. Also liability rules and insurance policies are structured to help us employees.
So you are fully right. Don’t go in if you can manage it. You shouldn’t have to and employer expectations are wrong.

(I think in the US during the latest holidays some employees died because they were forced to go in to work or deliver packages or pizzas during hurricanes, but they have like zero job protection there.)

100mph winds are enough to knock over trees, power lines, knock lorries off bridges, or out of lane to cause accidents. Take care.

There are Amber warnings all the time, I don't think my work would be too happy if I asked not to come in.

We can't work from home in our industry. Business as usual on Friday. We only work until lunchtime though.

No. I'm under amber warning just got in from work. Employers need you at work - if you genuinely can't get there that's different

Where are these 100mph winds being forecast?

We have 70mph gusts currently according to the bbc but it's not actually that bad.

I'd say be careful and don't set a precedent here

Before you know it they will be taking advantage and using assorts of reasons to stay at home. Bit of snow/ice, too hot, etc

Give em an inch..