High Temperatures How do employers in Bonn handle the heat?

BONN · The thermometer climbed to 41.9 degrees Celsius (107.4 Fahrenheit) at the unofficial measuring station of the University of Bonn on Thursday. Due to the persistent heat, the hospitals expect an increase in the number of patients this weekend.

The thermometer in Bonn has climbed well above the 40 degree Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) mark, but things are still quiet in Bonn's hospitals at the moment. Doctors are expecting more people with heat-related ailments this weekend, however. Those who don't have to go to work can count themselves lucky and visit an outdoor pool. After successful repairs, the Melbbad outdoor pool is once again an option, having reopened on Thursday.

For everyone else who has to work, it is becoming a real challenge. And this despite the fact that companies and government agencies have many suggestions to make working in this heat more bearable.

The Bonn Agentur für Arbeit (Employment Agency) on Villemombler Strasse closed at 2pm on Thursday because of the intense heat. Press spokesman Lars Normann explained that it was not about the employees getting time off due to the heat, rather it was about not wanting visitors to have to wait in overheated rooms where there was no air conditioning. But those who had scheduled appointments for a consultation were an exception and were still able to meet with an advisor.

According to press spokeswoman Svenja Kleinschmidt, supervisors at the Federal Ministry for Environment are allowed to call an end to the work day at 1 p.m. in individual cases on days like these. "That applies to individual employees, in particular if they suffer because of serious disabilities, are pregnant or there are other health reasons that make them particularly susceptible to the heat.” However, the hours have to be made up on other days. Besides that, there is also the possibility of “mobile working” - working from somewhere else when there are conditions of extreme heat.

Air conditioned offices and light clothing

At the German development agency GIZ on the B 9, employees can work in the early morning or late evening when the heat is extreme. Spokeswoman Josefine Fehr points out that staff could also move to air-conditioned individual offices and common rooms if necessary. And if it's still too hot, one can simply jump under one of the showers in the GIZ buildings.

At Deutsche Telekom, where the offices are generally air-conditioned, the main focus is on the well-being of the service staff and the branch shops. "The shop and service employees have to be there for the customers at the usual times, in any weather," explained Telekom spokesman Peter Kespohl. They are provided with lighter uniforms and care is taken to ensure that the cars of the field staff have air conditioning.

Thanks to ingenious climate-control technology, the Post Tower enjoys pleasant temperatures all year round, said press spokeswoman Hannah Braselmann. So the employees sweat only on their way to work or back home again. "The technology also ensures that the tower does not require a complex air conditioning system with high energy consumption," explained spokeswoman Hannah Braselmann. The high-rise building is cooled by a double glass shell. The wind, which constantly blows around the tower, pushes a flow of fresh air through controllable ventilation flaps into the double facade. The air exchange takes place through the small ventilation flaps in the double-walled outer facade and is adjusted according to the outside temperature.

The situation in the hospitals is still quite calm. "Currently we have five to ten more patients per day in the emergency room whose symptoms are a result of the heat," said Tim Flasbeck, Chief Physician of Emergency Medicine at the Malteser Hospital in Hardtberg. Most of these patients from all age groups came in suffering from dehydration, nausea, cardiovascular problems and confusion.

Spokeswoman Dorothea Adams, representing a chain of clinics called GFO, said there had so far not been an increase in patients due to the heat. "Neither in Beuel nor in Bad Honnef is there an increase." In both hospitals, however, more patients are expected on Friday and the weekend. "In strong heat, the body still manages to resist the extreme conditions during the first few days. But after that patients often experience problems," she said. The number of patients in the Gemeindschaftskrankenhaus (Community Hospital) in Bonn is also low, reported Christoph Bremekamp, head of the hospital. In the Department of Internal Medicine in the Sankt Elisabeth hospital, patients who are dehydrated are coming in, but often these people are already in a state of weakened health.

(Orig. text: Lisa Inhoffen, Rüdiger Franz, dpa; Translation: ck)

Foto: symbolic

Meistgelesen
Neueste Artikel
Zum Thema
Aus dem Ressort