Milk allergy death- should the book be thrown at the staff involved?

[mids2019]

....or if you are minimum wage staff member working in a stressed environment without English as a first language there should be leniency. Doctors are paid for life and death decisions but are Costa staff?

It wasn't by mistake though. Either the staff member hadn't had adequate training or they had the training but didn't do due diligence in accordance to their training. Either way Costa are responsible because they have a legal duty to cater safe food and drink.

I was talking about negligence. The barista should have asked questions. A customer has made a special request because of allergies. The barista has learned a horrible lesson. Staying silent and hoping for the best has not worked out well for her. This will live with her for the rest of her life.

The server said he didn't hear her say soya milk, but that the mother asked could he wash the jug because the daughter has a dairy allergy, and the server repeated that request back to the mother and said that hot chocolate contains milk and that the mother said "that's fine".

The mother also said that I feel that she did not understand what I was saying, which is why I leaned forwards so that she could hear what I was saying. so she was aware that the server was confused by what she was saying.

If she did refuse an epi pen I'm not sure how anyone can blame the staff member for the death, maybe the exposure, but not the death. An epi pen might well have saved her and I don't understand why she didn't accept that and use it or why she didn't have one in the first place. .

Costa could start putting their allergy book where customers can access it themselves and put up a sign about it or just a sign saying to ask for the allergy book before ordering. I think responsibility falls on the company unless they can show she was grossly negligent in her actions. .

How do you know there was no mistake? None of us have any certainty about what was said or done, there are literally hundreds of small or large errors that could have taken place, on the company's, server's and mother's part.

I think that's what the court is trying to figure out. Did Costa Coffee give appropriate training or was it the servers fault she didn't use her training.

Yep - I had a severe allergic reaction that hospitalised me, but because it didn’t cause breathing difficulties they wouldn’t prescribe me an epipen. I went for the allergy tests and the nurse administering them told me she’d never seen someone’s arm react as quickly as mine, even so, no epipen for me. Better hope it doesn’t escalate! I have an existing nut allergy, but they still don’t know what caused the attack that hospitalised me as I hadn’t eaten anything…

Coffee shops are noisy, and busy, with tiny prep areas. Staff are often not speaking their first language. It's really unfair to make them responsible for other people's allergies - it do easy to mishear something or accidentally use the wrong jug or ingredient.
These are minimum wage workers as well - if they are to take on this level of responsibility they need to paid a shit load more money and work in premises which are fully staffed and with separate kitchen areas.

That's not to say I don't have immense sympathy for this poor family.

Drinks made by Costa will be classed as "loose foods/drink" so they must provide allergen information on their products if the customer asks. The only time they need to provide the information where customers can access it themselves is on their prepacked for direct sale products such as those sealed in their chilled cabinet.

I was just going on the info in the article

Sounds like there was a lot of confusion during the order exchange. I think the mother should have tasted both drinks before giving one to her daughter

The barista was more than likely doing the best they could and were subject to human error. It is very unlikely that they decided to intentionally kill someone with an allergy, which is the only way they could be found liable in this case.

Oh yes the newspapers, famed publishers of absolute truth.

Costa are pretty clear that they cannot guarantee allergen-free food and drinks. It would not make good business sense for them to claim otherwise. Even if everything had been done to the letter, contamination is always a risk. I don’t see why any food and drink company would ever guarantee to be allergy safe.

I do have a dairy allergy. My reaction is painful and will knock me out for days, but not deathly. I actually buy costas hot chocolate powder in supermarkets because it’s the only one that is dairy free and not ridiculously expensive. However, when I buy from coffee shops I stick to black coffee so there is no room for confusion. Whilst staff are trained and theoretically I should be safe to order these types of drinks in larger stores I choose not to as I don’t want to chance it. As awful as it sounds and I’m so incredibly sorry that a poor girl has died, there is some onus on a person to keep themselves safe from these risks as it’s never guaranteed we’re safe.

The girl was served a drink that contained her allergy, Costa is responsible for this either from lack of training or the server not carrying out her training.

https://www.costa.co.uk/docs/store-allergen-guide.pdf

That describes pretty much any catering establishments from coffee shops, cafes, high end restaurants to burger vans; noisy, busy and hot and most aren't paid loads. It's the nature of catering.

I'm not wildly speculating. I'm forming the most likely explanation based on the information at hand.

Those blaming the mother are wildly speculating, and about the actions of a bereaved mother too.

It's far more likely that she didn't realise what was happening until it was too late, than that she was knowingly cavalier about a severe allergy and then knowingly refused medication once the reaction was in progress.

It is sitting as a disputed set of instructions. barista & mum have different narrative regard instructions & conversation. So whilst it’s clear that a dairy drink was prepared, it’s disputed what the conversation between mum and barista was

Most quote that line, in this case the server didn't use her training (if she had it) to even exercise any due diligence.

Slightly off topic but my dgs is severely allergic to peanuts and tree nuts. As a treat for some achievement, he asked to go to the Little Desert Shop (not sure if this chain is national but there are a number in my area). The server looked about 16 or 17, her name was eastern european and she had a slight accent, (and I assume she was on minimum wage) I said that dgs had a nut allergy (as their online menu advised that staff would be able to advise re allergens) and she immediately said that they used peanuts and other nuts and that she couldn't serve me. I was slightly startled because I have never been refused service before but I thanked her and left.

Reading this thread has been very helpful because I had never considered cross-contamination from almond milk. Luckily dgs is rarely taken to Costa/Starbucks et al and doesn't drink coffee but he will try a few sips of his Mum's frappacino and has indicated he would like one of his own sometime - looks like the poor kid is going to miss out on this too. I phoned dd and she hadn't considered this either but was off to research.

FGS, if you're that allergic to milk, do not go into a shop which serves mainly milk based drinks and expect to get something safe to drink! To much potential for accidental contamination, quite aside from the risk of human error.

Wildly cavalier? Do stop grandstanding. All the expansive unsubstantiated explanations
Look, you don’t actually know. End of

The server refused to answer some of the questions after being instructed by their lawyer.

'You were asked: did you think about showing the intolerance book?'
Dr Radcliffe then asked Ms Akter a series of further questions.
However, Julia Kendrick, representing Ms Akter, continually warned her client that she didn't have to answer questions that could expose her to criminal liability, under Rule 22.
Dr Radcliffe asked: 'Have you ever had any difficulty understanding what someone has said from behind the [perspex] screen [of the Costa till]?'
'Not too much,' Ms Akter replied. 'Sometimes…'
Dr Radcliffe continued: 'In your training, if someone mentions they have an allergy there is the allergy book under the till…
'Why did you not show the allergy book [to Ms Duyile]?'
Warned by Ms Kendrick, who said 'Rule 22' before her client could reply, Ms Akter said: 'No answer.'
'Am I going to get no answer for these Rule 22 questions?', Dr Radcliffe asked.
'Yes,' came Ms Kendrick's reply.