I just want to work from home really.
this post was submitted on 12 Dec 2023
187 points (99.0% liked)
United Kingdom
4083 readers
242 users here now
General community for news/discussion in the UK.
Less serious posts should go in !casualuk@feddit.uk or !andfinally@feddit.uk
More serious politics should go in !uk_politics@feddit.uk.
Try not to spam the same link to multiple feddit.uk communities.
Pick the most appropriate, and put it there.
Posts should be related to UK-centric news, and should be either a link to a reputable source, or a text post on this community.
Opinion pieces are also allowed, provided they are not misleading/misrepresented/drivel, and have proper sources.
If you think "reputable news source" needs some definition, by all means start a meta thread.
Posts should be manually submitted, not by bot. Link titles should not be editorialised.
Disappointing comments will generally be left to fester in ratio, outright horrible comments will be removed.
Message the mods if you feel something really should be removed, or if a user seems to have a pattern of awful comments.
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
What if you’re home is over 30C
Just wear shorts and light clothing I guess.
I would do 30c at home rather than commuting.
And British used to joke about Spanish siesta... Now they want to close everything at Spanish spring's temperature
Spain has air conditioning systems.
Oh yeah we need this rule in Australia. I'd be going home right now!
Ah mate! It's 40 degrees tomorrow with severe fire warnings, fucken oath we should have the day off. Might as well give us off until after Chrissy as it's gonna be a scorcher.
But how are Americans going to know when it's 30 degrees Celsius?
We could get nuked and they still make us go in.
86 F for Americans.
Seems warm for manual labor, seems fine for typing.
Many of our buildings are built to deal with cold winters, rather than hot summers. 30 is fine in a properly designed office. Add in stale stuffy air, and rising humidity and it quickly becomes extremely unpleasant.
I've worked full tilt, outside in 42°C temperatures, without issues. 32 in UK buildings and weather can leave me effectively useless.
The way to build for cold winters is effectively the same as for hot summers, thick insulation and ventilation. There's a few differences but the fundamentals are the same. UK houses are just shite all round, built for cheap construction costs and maximum developer profit.
'Fine' if they're fine with me wearing a tanktop and track shorts. I can be motionless and sweat at 85+ F
Indeed. A shirt and trousers is absolutely lovely attire for sitting in a room that's 30°C. No thanks.
Ehh, my ac unit wasn't working properly this summer. I'm in the southern US. It would get up to 85° F in the house and I'd be pretty sweaty by the end of the day.
Sure, it was fine, but it wasn't comfortable by any means.
I'm guessing the humidity was way lower wherever you were comfortable at 30°C, it's fine at the beach but in Britain it makes your brain start to melt!
Where do you live? I've never seen that enforced in the US.
I am afraid you have responded to the wrong comment. I said nothing about the US rules, I was changing temperature measurement standards.
Hmm, the issue here is that the office temperature is lower than the temperature if I'm working from home, so all it would mean is I'd be forced to go into the office on my WfH days! At least I'd be cool until I go home again I guess...
What about forges and other industrial places where it gets hot as balls?
Most jobs don't require working with dangerous chemicals, but some do. Some jobs will be the exception, but should also be the ones that have specific safety training and equipment for those conditions which won't be in place for office or other similar jobs.
People working at a forge should have training on recognizing symptoms of overheating and adequate cooling and hydration practices (even if a lot of them don't) as forges can't be cooled in a feasible way. Office workers or people in jobs where it is not expected to be hot are far more likely to accidentally overheat.
Maybe they could retrofit air conditioning for worker safety?
I work on an installation where there's a forge. I took a tour of it when I first started working and there's no way in hell you can effectively air condition that place without being extremely wasteful. Maybe I'm wrong and other forges have figured it out, but I'd love to see proof of it.
Nah, no way to do it with molten metal being right there. It's a part of the job, and a reason why a lot of countries don't have a "maximum temperature" law, but have a "minimum temperature" one.
That sounds like an edge case that may need more creative solutions, or implementing breaks, etc. But I'd wager that for most workplaces this isn't the case.
You can get air fed suits for toxic environments. I have seen these used in car manufacturing. From accounts of the lads there, they were very heavy to work with.
Right? Every restaurant in the country would be closed immediately and indefinitely.
Not that that's a terrible thing or anything
And from my experience- every local council service.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The report by the Fabian Society thinktank highlights inequalities in who bears the brunt of the impacts of climate breakdown and puts responsibility on bosses and landlords to stop people from overheating.
Drawing on advice from experts from a range of organisations including the National Infrastructure Commission, the London School of Economics and the University of Oxford, the Fabians have drawn up a plan to prevent illness and death from the increasing extreme heat predicted to happen in the UK due to climate breakdown.
It found that “low-paid workers often lack sufficient access to water, can not escape the heat, and have to wear uniforms or personal protective equipment (PPE) designed for cooler temperatures.” Hospitality and manual workers are most likely to face excessive heat, but also employees in education establishments and offices can suffer if they are working on higher floors or in areas with big windows and poor ventilation.
The report also calls for tougher climate resilience requirements on infrastructure providers, and a ban on the burning on upland peatlands as well as investment in the maintenance of flood defences currently in poor condition.
It says: “The Conservative government’s most recent National Adaptation Programme lacks substantive new plans or investment to prepare for future climate impacts.
The report also warns that the electricity system, transport infrastructure and schools and hospitals could all be at risk of shutdown due to overheating.
The original article contains 565 words, the summary contains 232 words. Saved 59%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
view more: next ›