To expect health care professionals, workers, etc. to not wear scents

[Bimbop5]

I don't understand why in this day and age that health care workers, meaning doctors, nurses, care aids, etc need to be told not to wear scents? They should know not to wear them due to asthma, sinusitis, multiple chemical sensitivity, etc, etc. And yet where I work they have to continually talk to these people and explain you cannot wear perfume or any scented products at work. It's ridiculous. People have to turn their care aids away due to them wearing scents and in turn are left trying to care for themselves when they are sick. It's nuts! It reminds me how smoking used to be allowed in hospitals and remember what the fight it was to finally ban this. I hope in my lifetime people will learn how much this hurts people with illness and allergies. I'm only 41 but man, we have so much to learn in society. People have a right to have clean air.

Then ask the people coming into your particular home not to wear perfume. That isn't the same thing as expecting an entire profession (and as the thread has progressed, the entire world) not to wear anything with a fragrance.

It's like me expecting everyone in the country to get rid of their pets as I'm allergic to their hair.

I assume uniforms are not made out of natural materials. A shift in polyester can be quite unpleasant. However strong, cloying perfume shouldn't be allowed in any job

In which case, the health professionals will be aware of your sensitivity/allergies and will make special exceptions. I know I would. However that doesn't mean imposing a blanket ban on any fragranced products. Should nurses also not be allowed to keep pets in case a few stray hairs attach to their uniform? What if a nurse has to walk through the usual gang of smokers you usually get outside a hospital? Do they have to shower if they aren't allowed to spray a bit of deodorant? It must be awful to have those sorts of allergies. But you can't impose a blanket ban on any allergen that a nurse may come into contact with because you'd may as well be nirsed by a sterile robot.

Our ward uses airfreshners in the loos (staff and patients) and our hand washing soap is lightly perfumed.
I can't use perfumed deodorants but most of my colleges do and refresh them 1/2 way through the day. Amongst other patients I work with very acutely unwell asthmatics and other respiratory problems no one has ever been told too not use perfumed products.

RazWaz, I think people refuse to grasp this and we'll have to just let it go. I'm frankly shocked at the number of people who have never heard of wearing no scents around asthmatics. Wow. It's 2016 and we've really not progressed. This is common knowledge.

And of course they would not turn away a casualty in ER due to scents good grief. But yes they do expect the staff to not wear scents and patients/visitors. Of course it's difficult to enforce and exceptions are made. It's not that insane over here.

One more thing and then I'm going to let this go. For all the people who are asking "what about smoke, pet hair, diesel etc." I'm taking about something, as an individual , that we are able to control. Some things are impossible to address because of how the world is.

Oh and the stray pet hair. We actually did have a client who could not have any pet dander around her. It was hard to accommodate because most of the staff owned pets but we managed to find someone who didn't own pets to go in. Now some may say well what if she picked up a stray hair from a coworker? We can only try as hard as we can to help each other. Situations aren't always perfect. I guess this is what I'm talking about.

It's not about refusing to grasp things. It's about being realistic.

Ds asthma can be triggered by the tiniest amount of smoke. Cigarettes are the worse. I can expect everyone to not smoke though - close family and friends never do as they understand. I know he will most likely end up in a and e at the start of November thanks to bonfires/fireworks - should we ban them?

Responses have to be realistic, we could ban so many things if we went of things there is a small risk someone may be allergic too them.

Also I would love to see the eveidence to show all these people suffering from anaphalixis due to perfume. For the scale of issue the OP is making it out to be I presume it is a very common occurance...

No synthetic scent doesn't affect this asthmatic. Natural perfumes yes.
if the alternative was to have a smelly place to work, I'd rather do another job. Sorry.

We don't have those rules, so if you have a problem with Canadian workers not following Canadian rules, why aren't you doing it on a Canadian forum?

^^ This

Google asthma and perfume, scented products. You'll find your answer. Good Grief. www.aafa.org/page/asthma-triggers-causes.aspx

www.toxicsinfo.org/asthma/FragranceAllergies.htm

FrancisCrawford, perhaps, if those people discontinued using scents they would find their asthma is much better. :)

My question to you FrancisCraAnger, why the anger?

That simply shows that it can be a trigger. Nobody has denied that.

Where are the statistics on all these cases of anaphalixis or severe asthma attacks caused by scents?

And let's not forget when we are looking at asthma one of the biggest problems is people not taking their medication, or not using it properly!

"t's like me expecting everyone in the country to get rid of their pets as I'm allergic to their hair."
But you wouldn't expect them to bring their dog or cat to work if you were Allergic?

Some people are denying it.

What about what RazWaz wrote Above? Her friend died.

Who has denied it?

People are questioning that you may be slightly exaggerating how common such severe reactions are. People are questioning the logic of taking such an extreme response and why you don't apply that to every single known allergen. Nobody has questioned that for some it can be a trigger.

Best you don't come work over in Canada then because you wouldn't like being denied your perfume.
allergicliving.com/2014/06/23/airborne-anaphylaxis-my-sons-fragrance-battle/

My aunt died of an asthma attack. My son nearly has on more than one occasion. That doesn't change the fact your argument is very illogical and badly thought out!

I'm a nurse and have never been told or heard of anyone being told not to where scent.

I guess I shouldn't have bothered posting this on a UK forum. I thought it was common knowledge and would be the same over there as here. I'm not the one enforcing this rule, although, I agree with it. If it was extreme why would we have the policy over here? Why would there be signs everywhere and people told don't wear scent when going to doctors appointments or tests? I didn't wake up one morning and say I want to create this rule. I know it sounds extreme if you've never heard of it. But this is how it is here.

Yes it can be difficult to monitor and that is why I posted because a patient of ours could not have these workers helping her because they kept turning up wearing scent. Even though they were told to stop wearing it. It really upset me that these workers felt they could do this despite having 1.a scent free policy and 2. Being told not to wear scents. And I just cannot understand that mindset at all.

And I was really hoping to spread awareness on how this affects others. And to vent.
And what I can't understand as health care workers why you wouldn't want to do your utmost to help your patients and keep them as healthy as possible. Yes some patients do wear scent. Some do not.

I'm not talking about people dying left, right and center. But some do find these triggers. So why not err on the side of caution when dealing with already compromised people ?