Nut Allergy At Work
Discussion
This post is mainly out of intrigue as I'm sure there are people on here who'd know about this kind of thing.
My other half works with children with brain injuries and in a specific house with their age range. One of her colleagues who works with her has a severe nut allergy and on four separate occasions has ended up either signed off or hospitalised due to people not adhering to the signage around the building. One particularly bad episode ended up with her signed off for two weeks due to the severity of it.
It would seem that because of this, this girl has been getting quite a hard time about things. Other parts of the workplace refusing to remove jars of peanut butter from kitchens meaning she cannot enter those parts of the building etc. She is also being told that she may be hauled up for her sickness records due to the two weeks off, which were caused from the incident at work.
i just wondered where someone stands in terms of this? It's clearly a severe allergy but one she declared before joining the job. I believe the last incident was that she advised them she would react to roasting chestnuts and people were advised not to cook them until she'd done her bit and left, that was ignored and she ended up unwell again.
It seems these incidents are being blamed on her rather than their lack of care. I understood a workplace has an obligation to their employee for things like this rather than taking it out on the employee.
My other half works with children with brain injuries and in a specific house with their age range. One of her colleagues who works with her has a severe nut allergy and on four separate occasions has ended up either signed off or hospitalised due to people not adhering to the signage around the building. One particularly bad episode ended up with her signed off for two weeks due to the severity of it.
It would seem that because of this, this girl has been getting quite a hard time about things. Other parts of the workplace refusing to remove jars of peanut butter from kitchens meaning she cannot enter those parts of the building etc. She is also being told that she may be hauled up for her sickness records due to the two weeks off, which were caused from the incident at work.
i just wondered where someone stands in terms of this? It's clearly a severe allergy but one she declared before joining the job. I believe the last incident was that she advised them she would react to roasting chestnuts and people were advised not to cook them until she'd done her bit and left, that was ignored and she ended up unwell again.
It seems these incidents are being blamed on her rather than their lack of care. I understood a workplace has an obligation to their employee for things like this rather than taking it out on the employee.
Thank you for the replies so far, they pretty much mirror my thinking on it as well although I'm not expert by any means.
This employee certainly takes all the precautions she can and tries her best to inform those she can.
Didn't think it was very fair for her to be left tearful after being interrogated by her manager and it being implied she may lose her job as they 'can't find anywhere for her to go'.
This employee certainly takes all the precautions she can and tries her best to inform those she can.
Didn't think it was very fair for her to be left tearful after being interrogated by her manager and it being implied she may lose her job as they 'can't find anywhere for her to go'.
bingybongy said:
I'm pretty sure peanuts are not nuts and are legumes.
So unless they have a peanut allergy as opposed to a nut allergy they should be fine.
Although pedantic that is correct hahaSo unless they have a peanut allergy as opposed to a nut allergy they should be fine.
Unfortunately the allergy seems to be triggered by peanuts and chestnuts in the two situations I'm aware of. It can be life threatening and as mentioned has resulted in her having to be signed off and have urgent shots of what I assume is adrenalin.
Thing is I can't help thinking this is not the most difficult allergy for a workplace to adhere to? I mean yes I could understand if someone said they were allergic to something completely unavoidable but a food allergy that you can narrow down is surely not impossible?
I agree that there is a lot of political correctness gone mad etc etc, but surely this woman is entitled to be able to work in a job?
Surely it's better someone is working hard and willing to work as opposed to going, 'Sorry I can't work, no where takes my nut allergy seriously'. All compo-faced on the front of a local rag whilst nabbing benefits off the state?
Nigel Worc's said:
I read it.
I think SHE needs to go and work in a nut free zone, not rely on everyone else, especially as it obviously affects her health so much.
What do you consider a 'nut free zone' though? I can understand if she's in a restaurant, pub, supermarket and other places where there's likely to be food or dealing with general members of the public. I think SHE needs to go and work in a nut free zone, not rely on everyone else, especially as it obviously affects her health so much.
I don't consider working in a home for children with brain injuries to be a place that couldn't be made 'nut free' with a couple of fairly simple steps? Don't bring any bloody nuts onto the premises!!
I work in offices which have kitchens people make their lunches in and if it said, to refrain from bringing in nut based products (peanut butter, Peanuts etc), you know obvious stuff I don't think that's unreasonable.
I'd agree if she was putting herself in the firing line but it's not expecting a great deal for this to be considered.
One thing to add to this. This particular person is not overly expectant of the work place, she's not caused a huge fuss after having her allergies triggered. Her employers are making her life difficult because they fail to manager the situation. For example there are different houses to work in, others which refuse point blank to remove jars or peanut butter so she can't work there. In the house she works in the staff adhere to it and she's generally ok but it's the employer punishing the employee for reacting to it in their environment, then making her fearful of her job that I don't agree with.
Edited by Alex_225 on Thursday 15th December 17:44
Jasandjules said:
Are you really that obtuse?
If she was working in a peanut shelling factory or making peanut butter then yes, I would consider perhaps she ought to work elsewhere.
But that is not what we are talking about, the ignorance and arrogance shown on this thread is why disabled people have such a hard time getting jobs and keeping them.
I have to agree, there have been some surprisingly intolerant replies on here. If she was working in a peanut shelling factory or making peanut butter then yes, I would consider perhaps she ought to work elsewhere.
But that is not what we are talking about, the ignorance and arrogance shown on this thread is why disabled people have such a hard time getting jobs and keeping them.
I'd understand if she was working with food or with the general public. She's on a normal workplace where it doesn't take an enormous change in culture to prevent someone being seriously ill or potentially dying. It's not exactly a hardship to not have peanuts in such a workplace.
Based on some of the comments in here, what would those people suggest she does? Any other work place has food in it in some way or other, offices, factories, shops etc. There's as much likelihood of someone bringing peanuts into any other workplace as there is where she works!
It's an odd one as like I say, if she was sitting there refusing to get a job because of the allergy she'd be berated. Instead she does a pretty noble job, works hard in a sector she is qualified.
Oddly when she trained in child care, I'm sure (like many would) she didn't think, "ooh that's not the career for me, children are a peanut magnet!".
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