A maximum indoor temperature working law giving people a day off if workplace temperatures surpass 30C should be mandated by government, a new report recommends.
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.
An increasing number of people are dying from excessive heat in the UK. More than 4,500 people died in England in 2022 due to high temperatures, which was the largest figure on record. Between 1988 and 2022, almost 52,000 deaths associated with the hottest days were recorded in England, with a third of them occurring since 2016, data from the Office for National Statistics shows. During the same 35-year period analysed, more than 2,000 people died in Wales due to the warm temperatures.
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.
I’m wondering how long it takes until climate activists start advocating against it (because it would increase the use of AC and thus emissions/energy use, and decrease the amount of people suffering from the heat).
I’m all for improved passive cooling measures before we jump to using A/C.
I think companies wouldn’t want to let their employees get off free, so they will probably be the first ones to be against this.
Not sure why climate activists would want people to suffer. Everyone is still hot, doesn’t matter if working or not
Of course companies will be against it.
Not sure why climate activists would want people to suffer.
Some because they think it’ll make people more aware of the problem and create more pressure to act, others because they think suffering is a virtue, people deserve it for what they have done to earth, and similar nonsense positions.
I feel like you’re just having imaginary arguments in your head with people who don’t exist. This is a net win for everyone because it means less people suffering in extreme conditions and it also puts pressure on companies and people with money to slow climate change.
Maybe there’s some weird people out there who want others to suffer but I doubt that’s anywhere near representative of climate activists.
Wait, yall work in offices at 86F? What is wrong with you guys? Why do you guys have so many problems with AC? People are dying because you guys havent figured a 100 year old invention yet?
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Y’all got windows though right? You could throw some portables in.
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I would consider not having heat stroke a health and safety concern.
Fucking hell, I knew the UK had issues, but thats just fucked up.
Probably half the offices I’ve worked at had no AC at all. One job I had moved to a new building that didn’t have AC, they spent a fortune installing it, then were required to remove it when they vacated the building a few years later.
Thats absurd. People die without AC, wtf is wrong with the brits?
If you’re also an American, as looks to be the case from your comments, Europe has more-moderate extreme temperatures than parts of the US do; most of it is near water, which helps moderate temperature, and it has few arid places. The UK, which is an archipeligo, particularly so.
There are some places in Europe where air conditioning is more common than others, but overall, it’s much less common in homes than in the US.
EDIT: UK heat records:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_weather_records
England: 40.3°C (104.5 °F) at Coningsby, Lincolnshire
Wales: 37.1 °C (98.8 °F) at Hawarden, Flintshire
Scotland: 34.8 °C (94.6 °F) at Charterhall, Scottish Borders
Northern Ireland: 31.3 °C (88.3 °F) at Castlederg, County Tyrone
The hottest temperature record there would be a pretty ordinary summer temperature in some of the hotter parts of the US.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._state_and_territory_temperature_extremes
Not going to put them all up, but a sampling of the top ones:
California: 56.7 °C (134 °F)
Arizona: 53.3 °C (128 °F)
Nevada: 51.7 °C (125 °F)
New Mexico: 50 °C (122 °F)
Just hasn’t generally been the case that the need for air conditioning is as strong.
There are many old buildings, and historically it hasn’t often been warm enough to make air conditioning worth it. But the climate is getting warmer now.
Basically 30 years ago it was very seldom needed. It’s almost as if … oh, I don’t know, the climate is changing.
It’s all part of growing up and being British!
But theres no reason to. Why would guys not do basic stuff? Hell, even in America OSHA gets involved past 80f/27c
So what gives?
86 F for Americans.
Seems warm for manual labor, seems fine for typing.
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!
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.
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.
