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What does a red heat weather warning mean for you · INSIGHT TODAY

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What does a red heat warning mean for you? Is
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: it too hot for school? Will train and public transport
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: be okay? What can hospitals and care homes do well?
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: I've been getting you some answers. It's a very hot
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: week for lots of you, especially across plants of England
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  Speaker 1: and Wales. As our weather presenter Simon King.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: Explains, temperatures are expected to rise significantly in the coming days,
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  Speaker 2: with up to thirty nine degrees celsis over one hundred
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  Speaker 2: fahrenheights expected on Wednesday and Thursday. The humidity will also rise,
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  Speaker 2: making this heat wave particularly uncomfortable for many of us.
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  Speaker 2: We're also going to see some very warm, potentially record
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  Speaker 2: breaking nights, making it difficult for sleeping. This means the
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: heat is likely to cause impacts to health, but also
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  Speaker 2: infrastructure such as power supplies and the transport network.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: Thank you very much, Simon. Well, let's look at some
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: of those impact with the next of our experts that
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: I've roped in to help us, our business correspondent Emma Simpson.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: Big question, when is it too hot to go to
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  Speaker 1: work or school?
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  Speaker 3: Really good question. So here in the UK there is
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  Speaker 3: no legal maximum working temperature and other Unions. One the
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  Speaker 3: two u se reckons it should be set at thirty
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  Speaker 3: degrees celsius for indoors, a bit less if the work
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  Speaker 3: is strenuous, but saying that under health and safety legislation,
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  Speaker 3: employers are obliged to provide a comfortable temperature and good ventilation.
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  Speaker 3: So the advice is that imp employers should be doing
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  Speaker 3: is maybe introducing fans, air conditioning where possible, keeping the
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  Speaker 3: windows open, and allowing workers to possibly work a bit
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  Speaker 3: more flexibly.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: All right, Emma, thank you very much. If you are
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: wondering about your school, well we have already had announcements
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  Speaker 1: from some that they're closing or changing their hours. Vanessa
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  Speaker 1: Clark is our education correspondent.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, we've already heard that some schools in the West
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  Speaker 4: of England are actually going to be closing early over
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  Speaker 4: the next few days. Now, it's very and unusual for
• 2:01
  Speaker 4: schools to close during heat waves. You know, the government
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  Speaker 4: really wants to see pupils attending, but in cases like
• 2:08
  Speaker 4: this they can adjust their hours so they might start
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  Speaker 4: early or they might finish early, and it's all at
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  Speaker 4: the discretion of the head teachers. So head teachers today
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  Speaker 4: will be going around they'll be checking temperatures, they'll be
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  Speaker 4: doing risk assessments, and then they making sure that students
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  Speaker 4: are as comfortable as possible, because there's no maximum temperature
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  Speaker 4: for a classroom, but the teaching unions say that it
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  Speaker 4: shouldn't really go above twenty six degrees. So if a
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  Speaker 4: decision like that is made, they'll have to get the
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  Speaker 4: governors on board, they'll have to get the academy trust.
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  Speaker 4: So it's a big decision with a lot of considerations.
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  Speaker 1: Let's look at your travels now, because the met Office
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  Speaker 1: generally advises against it where possible. They're like, it's our
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  Speaker 1: transport correspondent. The heat's not good for the roads.
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  Speaker 5: No, who'd want to be driving on a day like today.
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  Speaker 5: Several things can happen. Obviously, the road surface itself can melt,
• 2:55
  Speaker 5: but it can also soften, which makes it bad for
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  Speaker 5: heavy traffic because that can create ruts, so councils might
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  Speaker 5: decide to divert traffic. Some even get the gritters out
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  Speaker 5: to make the roads surface a bit more stable when
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  Speaker 5: it starts to melt, and then cuns they can overheat,
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  Speaker 5: tires can blow if they haven't been kept at the
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  Speaker 5: correct pressures, and drivers can be affected as well. We
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  Speaker 5: can get angry. There've been studies that have proved that,
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  Speaker 5: and of course people rush to the coasts which can
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  Speaker 5: create traffic jams. So all told, not great on the
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  Speaker 5: roads when it gets hot.
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  Speaker 1: And can also be a bit tricky on the trains.
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  Speaker 1: Delays cancelations have already seen some.
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, people are confused about why this happens, but remember
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  Speaker 5: rails are made of metal expands in the heat and
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  Speaker 5: it can heat up very rapidly as well, so rails
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  Speaker 5: can buckle, points can get stuck. All of that can
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  Speaker 5: cause delays. Signaling systems can also be vulnerable to heat,
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  Speaker 5: so that can create delays as well well.
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  Speaker 1: Finally, then the extreme temperatures mean a red heat health
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  Speaker 1: alert is also in place for many of you, and
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  Speaker 1: health and social care services can be severely impacted. So, last,
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  Speaker 1: but not least, our health correspondent Sophie Hutchinson is here.
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  Speaker 1: What are some of the effects from a health perspective.
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  Speaker 6: Well, the UK Health Security Agency has issued this red
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  Speaker 6: alert across hospitals and care homes, just saying that all
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  Speaker 6: patients need monitoring. You need to make sure that they
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  Speaker 6: are not overheating, but those most at risk have to
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  Speaker 6: have blood pressure, heart rates, breathing rates, hydration checked at
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  Speaker 6: regular intervals. There need to be thermostats to check what
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  Speaker 6: temperature the rooms are, and there has to be an
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  Speaker 6: area that people if they are overheating, can go to
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  Speaker 6: where the temperature is a maximum of twenty six degrees.
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  Speaker 6: But this alert that we've had about this heat wave
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  Speaker 6: coming also means that healthy people, so visitors in hospitals
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  Speaker 6: and staff who work in care homes for example, are
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  Speaker 6: also at risk. So the UK Health Security Agency is
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  Speaker 6: saying they must make sure that they carry water on them,
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  Speaker 6: that they keep hydrated, and that they are aware if
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  Speaker 6: they are beginning to feel unwell.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, well, Sophie, thank you very much, So keep yourselves
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  Speaker 1: safe and remember the BBC News website will have any
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  Speaker 1: updates that you need