Or are my work?

[NC4Green]

Work in fast food restaurant, afternoon/early evening there is normally 30-40 staff rotated into shift.

A few weeks ago we had some get a positive COVID test, just a generic confidential work email sent out, no names etc, nobody who was in close contact with them told etc.

Had another, except this ones been kept hush hush, nobody told, not even people who were definitely in close contact with them.

Is this the right way of doing things?

OP, you also don't need your employer's 'permission' or instruction to download the app, it's all of our responsibility (where possible) to download it, regardless of our employer.

Jesus wept. This is one of the reasons why we are not going to dampen this bloody virus down. People working in fast food outlets serving loads of people who have been working with someone who tested positive AND the outlet not being deep cleaned.

Arfghhhhh

People are mixing up the app and the track and trace system in here, they're two separate things (though do the same role)

Anyone who gets a positive covid test gets a phone call from the NHS tracers. They have to tell the person on the phone details about where they have been and who they've been in contact with, as best they can, for those times/distance.

The NHS tracers then ring people directly and tell them to stay home for 14 days.

As people have said also the system isn't as fast/reliable as it should be. So when the employer is told that someone at their work is positive, most workplaces have policies in place now where they will work out who is at risk and tell them to stay home, as they can do this immediately and not wait for T&T. This is what has happened in my workplace when a few people have become ill on different occasions. However, legally, noone from a workplace has to isolate unless told to by the tracers. But that guidance is on the basis that they assume every workplace is 'covid secure' and that everyone is following the distancing requirements. Which as anyone who is still going into a work building knows its not always possible 100% of the time.

So when the employer is told that someone at their work is positive, most workplaces have policies in place now where they will work out who is at risk and tell them to stay home, as they can do this immediately and not wait for T&T.

many companies are avoiding this policy, to avoid sending staff home and closing the business. If they can get away with sending the home only the 'positive' person, they will try too.

OP, you must consider the great health of everyone. Contact NHS Track asap, and provide them with all the details.

We don’t track and trace into work, we haven’t been told to

Of course you have been told to - the whole bloody country has been told to.

Seriously I despair!

@emilyfrost - I’m not the owner. If I don’t work I don’t get paid and I can’t control whether my work sees it fit to open. There is ample space to eat lunch apart, but you can’t control what people do when they’re out of sight, I’ve seen people smoking right next to each other out the back etc.

@Singinghollybob thanks for that nugget of information. I have the app. I’m just saying we don’t scan into work therefore not everyone brings their phones in etc.

@MJMG2015 we deep every night personally and sanitise our station every 15 minutes/ at changeovers - this is why i find it annoying they’re not communicating + test results properly. What’s the point in doing all that when we’re not telling people that someone they were stood next to has tested positive and leave them to work with the public.

@VampireVicki thanks for coming love, so helpful.

To all the useful comments, I will report where you’ve all mentioned and see if anything comes of it. Thank you.

There is ample space to eat lunch apart, but you can’t control what people do when they’re out of sight, I’ve seen people smoking right next to each other out the back etc.

Yes you can, because you report to management and they deal with it via CCTV. And if you work where I think you do, nobody should be smoking “out the back” and they would be taking anything like this extremely seriously.

@emilyfrost I would report the few times I’ve seen it because they might lose their jobs, I have said move apart etc. Also we don’t have cctv so it’s essentially my word against theirs. You don’t know where I work and they do indeed allow us to smoke out the back and don’t take it seriously.

@emilyfrost besides that wasn’t really the point of this post, if management tell them off they can’t stop them anyway if it’s before/after work hours.

@Florencex

No there is no reason you need to know about it.

The guidelines do not state you need to isolate because of "close contact", I continue to be baffled as to why people keep saying this.

You only need to self isolate if: you or a member of your support bubble has tested positive or has symptoms. Or if you are told to be track and trace. So unless you have been contacted by track and trace you do not need to do anything as presumably you are not living or in a support bubble with the colleague.

PHE are telling school staff and pupils to isolate based on close contact. Are you not in England ?

@VampireVicki

We don’t track and trace into work, we haven’t been told to

Of course you have been told to - the whole bloody country has been told to.

Seriously I despair!

No, the whole nation haven't been told to. There are tens of thousands of people who are not allowed their phones at work for legitimate reasons and others where there is no signal at work.

[quote NC4Green]@emilyfrost I would report the few times I’ve seen it because they might lose their jobs, I have said move apart etc. Also we don’t have cctv so it’s essentially my word against theirs. You don’t know where I work and they do indeed allow us to smoke out the back and don’t take it seriously.[/quote]
So you wouldn’t report people breaking the rules because they might lose their jobs? They are taking that risk themselves and again, if you’re not management it’s not up to you to tell them to move apart.

Your responsibility as an employee is to let your employers know when health and safety regulations are being flouted, and if they’re not socially distancing then they are being flouted.

It doesn’t matter if they aren’t officially clocked in, if they’re in work uniform and/or near the building then they can and should be disciplined for it.

By not reporting you are contributing to the spread.

@emilyfrost you’re just completely derailing the post by going this off topic anyway. It’s not what I was asking advice on.

But you seem to know how my whole work place runs apparently so I’m just gonna let you believe that and move on.

OP I haven't been 'told to' scan into the app by my employer either, but I still do because I use my initiative and don't need their permission.

@Singinghollybob erm... well done?

[quote NC4Green]@emilyfrost you’re just completely derailing the post by going this off topic anyway. It’s not what I was asking advice on.

But you seem to know how my whole work place runs apparently so I’m just gonna let you believe that and move on.[/quote]
It’s not derailing at all; it’s entirely relevant. You’re concerned your work aren’t taking covid precautions seriously, while at the same time shirking your responsibility as an employee to do the same and allowing an environment in which it will spread.

The app doesn't work in this scenario because you're likely to leave it in a locker etc whilst you're on shift. You'll be linked to phones in other lockers whose owners may not have been near you.

The difficulty in this scenario is working out who you have been in close contact with, as with the 2m/1m rule, it's probably not many people at all. There needs to be better guidance on how employers should manage this, telling the whole shift to isolate for no good reason is unworkable and unaffordable for workers.

If you're in a union OP, give them a call. If you're not in one, join one!

@emilyfrost

Actually it’s entirely irrelevant to the question I asked initially. I don’t need your advice on how to behave. You’re making your own assumptions about my work, my management and me... and therefor you aren’t actually acknowledging anything I’m actually saying.

I wouldn’t report them no. End of discussion. My management don’t need me to, they see it, heck some of them do it. They are allowed to smoke out the the back. The management don’t take it seriously.

If they’re not in uniform, it’s before or after work, the management can’t do anything if they’re off the property.

Anything else? Or do you have anything to say regarding my original post that could be of use to me?

@ChaChaCha2012 thank you. Unfortunately a lot of the people I personally work with have older phones and some of the over 60’s don’t bring their phone to work at all. This isn’t the case across the whole day/week, just me personally.

For the most part we are separated by screens, wear masks and social distance, that being said there are busier shifts that social distancing just can’t be done 100% and the management see this, every day I work I’d say 4/5 people at least come closer than 1m to me whilst working without a screen separating us. But yes, it’s more of a what can we do? situation as closing down and isolating everyone wouldn’t work.

Thank you for your advice, I’ll see what I can do tomorrow regarding a union as I just won’t get a straight answer from them so would much rather have the information available first.