You shouldn't be driving to the office when there will be a red weather warning

[mandydandy]

We are in the north east of Scotland. Tomorrow is supposed to be an Amber weather warning for wind and rain most of the day. Later it will apparently be even worse and turning to a red weather warning.
I suggested to my DH that he should maybe work from home tomorrow.
However, his bosses have said they need everyone in the office for a big project. Not likely to get home before the weather warning goes red either.
DH has to drive a pretty awful road to get home. Any other routes would have even more trees and are really twisty.
Surely they should work from home if the weather is going to be that bad?

Dunno, how bad are the winds forcast to be?

Having lived in the NE of Scotland, I agree with the OP.

A lot of the roads up that way are wild at the best of times and if you are able to stay off them to better enable emergency vehicles, breakdown trucks etc, then you should.

Absolutely idiotic to drive under a red warning and questionable under an amber.

Incredibly dangerous and puts extra work on eg police.

Does he drive a Tesla?

Scottish couple facing $33k repair bill after driving Tesla in heavy rain

https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/other/scottish-couple-facing-33k-repair-bill-after-driving-tesla-in-heavy-rain/ar-AA1ikK3k

Not saying he should have to, but can he stay in a hotel nearby if they're insisting on coming in? I suspect most people will feel the same and want to not travel though.

Sounds daft to me.
I was supposed to go from near Glasgow to N-Lincs tomorrow, but leaving at 4am instead as the roads out of my town get flooded.

I remember reading somewhere that offices were insisting people came in incase their internet went down.

I agree with OP

The police closed the roads to my work (school) due to heavy snow but my headmaster insisted I got there somehow. Went another route really slowly only to be sent home on arrival as the school buses refused to run! Employers have a duty of care to staff. Now I am older and wiser I would have refused to attend.

Personally I would refuse to.travel in any red weather warnings. I'm not risking my life for the whims of a manager on a power trip

Don't the met office advise not to drive in red warnings unless essential/an emergency? Yanbu

I live in the same area and have had this exact convo with my husband as the thought of him driving on the A9 in that weather makes my blood run cold!! He's agreed to WFH tomorrow, and I hope Friday as well. As I said to him, surely one of the biggest benefits of WFH is the flexibility to make decisions like this if need be?! No need to risk himself and other drivers!

Managers have a responsibility for the health and safety of their employees. A third of all road crashes I once read were people driving in the course of work, never mind those travelling to and from a place of work when there is a reasonable option to work from home.

Either report the company to the Health and Safety Executive, or name them so one of us can on your behalf.

Agree and from my limited experience of red weather warnings, they mean what they say.

Yes ridiculous. Presumably unless they were key workers they somehow managed big projects during lockdown should be possible for a day now in potentially very bad weather.

Work from home if you can

www.transport.gov.scot/news/red-weather-warning-for-rain/#:~:text=People%20should%20avoid%20travel%20in,until%20the%20storm%20has%20passed.

Of course if you can is a great cop out phrase

yanbu.

Can your DP not just lie tomorrow and say a trees on the road or something?

Say no

Travelling in those conditions would be crazy. If they employer needs them there, rather than just wants them there, they should pay for nearby hotel accommodation.

When storm Eunice hit my employer ordered everyone to cancel appointments and work from home.

Noo. That's madness.

I was in the Lake District during storm Desmond (which had a red warning). It was extremely dangerous and the flooding was insane. The landline and mobile networks both down, roads washed away.

Extremely irresponsible of his boss to insist.

People die in those sorts of conditions so no YANBU.

The roads should be kept clear for emergency vehicles and evacuations, not used for commuting.

Given how extreme the weather up there can be without a warning then it is crazy to drive when one is in place. If he can work at home then he should.

There are some jobs where you can’t and employers should then find alternatives if necessary (providing accommodation if employees can’t get home safely).

My job would make us come in and then let us go home early if the weather changed.

It was a bit annoying because what’s the point in making us go in, but it was a school so the parents wouldn’t have been happy to close it just in case.

If he WFH usually then I don’t see why they can’t do it over zoom.
I think it’s quite unprofessional of the boss to want everyone in when they’ve been warned to avoid driving if they can.

I wouldn’t be happy.
I would message my boss and tell them I’d concerned about the weather.

Having been through the last red weather warning in that area (Storm Arwen) I agree that his boss is an idiot and everyone should stay home if possible. NE roads are not to be played with.

The emergency services will have enough to do without rescuing people who didn't need to be on the roads in the first place.