To wear earphones at work?

[Lovespolly]

Discrete ear pods, not big headphones.

I'm a cleaner, working in a busy (and noisy) public place. I'd quite like to listen to podcasts whilst i work.

It's very much a "left to my own devices" job and I don't have to interact with anybody.

WIBU?

Are there any safety implications?

I wouldn't say there were any safety implications no, it's a noisy place as it is (music playing)

I would think its fine but is there any mention on your contract? I thinks its great idea, I have the radio on at work but only enough to hear myself

If you wouldn't need to hear someone coming up behind you or speaking to you, it doesn't seem like it should be a problem.

Is there any reason you aren't asking your boss? Afraid they'd say no on principle? Maybe they'd think you'd work more slowly or be distracted? Or just that it wouldn't look right?

Are you an employee or self-employed?
If you are an employee I would think you need to ask your boss/manager as there might be safety implications that you haven't considered.
I would think you are a higher risk of accidents if you can't hear what is going on around you.

I personally don't see why not.
Just keep the volume down in case someone wants to talk to you or an alarm goes off etc, can't see any reason why it would be an issue? 🤷🏼‍♀️

I got some cheap earbuds off Amazon and use just one of them to listen to podcasts on my phone when I go walking. This means that I am aware of my surroundings, roads, other people etc. Would this be an option?

They cost about £23 and come in a case that charges them, but this was on a black friday deal.

I would have thought that using cleaning materials and equipment in a public place would need you to be fully aware and alert to your surroundings and members of the public. If you didn’t hear a child coming up behind you and taking a bottle of cleaning fluid, for instance. There could well be health and safety and insurance implications, so the only person who can answer this is your manager.

I tried to do that while working somewhere similar and we compromised at 1 earphone so I could hear alarms etc

I would say fine as long as it doesn't affect safety. You can get bone conducting headphones that mean you can still hear your surroundings. Runners often wear them for safety reasons.

YABU if you don't check with your manager first.

I'm self employed, I haven't checked with the manager there as I haven't started yet. I start today late afternoon. I will be running it by them of course I was just wondering whether it's a CF thing to be wanting to do.

There are no children in the building either.

Using one bud is a good idea actually.

I think it sounds fine and tbh people light not even know if your hair covered them

Tons of people who work / worked in noisy open plan officers use headphones. The only risk I would see is bumping into people. ( depends on how busy the corridors are). I would just do it quite frankly.

The cleaners in my old workplace were allowed to have one earbud in. I think wireless ones would be better because if it's obvious that you are listening to something it might make you appear less approachable, and that's probably not a good look if you are customer facing. But with one discreet bud in you're still able to hear when people speak to you and look like you're not just chilling. As a manager I would not have an issue with this, but it does depend on the workplace.

Mine are wireless little buds that connect via Bluetooth so very discrete