To think my employer should quarantine work vehicles driven by confirmed cases *title edit by MNHQ at OP's request*

[GurpsAgain]

I'm not one to freak out every time I go to buy a pint of milk, generally pretty rational about the whole covid thing, but I'm pretty pissed off at my employer after today and was interested to hear what others made of it.

So far, I'd say they've been reasonably good and if anything most of the irresponsible behaviour I've seen has been from other drivers, talking in smoking area without masks on and being quite close together etc.

I don't usually have to share my wagon as it's specifically only used for cardboard recycling which must be kept pretty clean, and our depot has also hired several wagons so that the people who usually share each have their own vehicle now (previously one used the truck for morning and one for afternoon/evening). They can easily afford this as each of us brings in around £5k a day and our wages and the fuel etc are a fraction of this - turnover is only down a few % from last year. In the rare instance that somebody has to use one after someone else, they're notified so they can give it a good wipe down.

So today I come in as usual to do my 10 hour shift. Halfway through I'm sitting having a coffee and talking to another driver on the phone. He mentions that my truck was used by an agency driver this morning who then called in after his shift to say he wouldn't be back tomorrow as his wife has tested positive and he needs to isolate. I thought he was having me on at first but he wasn't!

My boss told me that it was 'fully sanitised' prior to me driving it, but I now know that they just asked the truck washer to give it a clean with disinfectant wipes. Not to sound like an arse but I'm not sure how much faith I really have in a spotty 21 year old to have done a proper deep clean, especially when he had loads of trucks to jet wash afterwards and had been pulled off that to clean my truck.

The guy is a scruffy bugger too which doesn't really improve my confidence. I obv don't expect him to wear a suit to wash trucks, but his personal car is always covered in bird crap and clearly not even given basic regard. Of course, he may take more pride in his work but it doesn't fill me with confidence that he'd be doing a really thorough job.

There are literally dozens of buttons and switches to control the lifting gear and suspension etc, and we use most of them daily. To clean all of those properly would be a serious undertaking, especially as alcohol wipes dry pretty fast. And then I started wondering if he'd thought to reach under the seat and wipe the seat levers. Or the numerical keypad on radio which changes stations. Or the buttons on the PDA/GPS. Not being a driver he almost certainly wouldn't have thought to clean the wristband (kept in the traffic office) for the immobiliser which the agency driver would've had to use, and which I had on my wrist all day.

I'm relatively young and in good shape as I train 4x a week, but I've been to hospitals, schools, care homes, etc, and I've been touching the keypads, door handles, gates etc. Hospitals are pretty good in my experience but I worry about care home staff etc touching the doorknob to the stores and then going back inside and touching everything.

I'm not overly worried but I think my employer should've at least let me know that somebody drove my truck today who is very likely to have covid.

Missed out the 'should' in title. Doh!

I think it’s wise to assume your vehicle needs a good clean and wipe down before you use it regardless of any possible use by an agency. Just swab it yourself.

I do actually give it a quick wipe down in case somebody needed to move it or the workshop needed to fit a bulb. But a full clean would take ages. This is only the third time this year somebody else has used it for the day (the other truck had a hydraulic leak).

I clean the handles, wheel etc. But the workshop generally have no business operating the lifting gear etc.

I think it’s hugely unlikely for you to catch COVID from using a vehicle that someone else used earlier!

Realistically in this situation it’s all about washing your hands and not touching your nose/mouth. I know this sounds patronising as it’s so basic. It’s very unlikely that there’s airborne droplets of COVID wafting around the truck wafting after the vector left several hours ago. I don’t believe the disease is that contagious but I’m happy to be corrected?

Just take the initiative to clean it as throughly as you can to ease your worries and keep your hands clean before touching your face/eating etc.

I think it’s hugely unlikely for you to catch COVID from using a vehicle that someone else used earlier!

I hope so. But it's not like going to the supermarket then washing your hands after. As I wear gloves outside the truck and regularly hand sanitise, I'm fairly relaxed in the cab. Frequently rub my eyes etc after using controls.

And we talk to office on handsfree quite a bit so likely droplets everywhere. When you're talking loudly over ambient noise you tend to spray more.

If you are sanitising your hands regularly then don’t panic. You’ve said that you are youngish and fit so you’ll be ok. Stop rubbing your eyes though [ grin]

I'm probably not as 'young' as I'd like to think (early 30s). 😂

From reading, contagion does seem quite unlikely. I think it's more a matter of principle. I'm fairly sure office kept it quiet because they wanted me out there doing the work and I deal with some of our really big clients.

I'm not sure what company policy is, but it definitely should have been set aside for a deep cleaning if management knew about this prior to you getting in the machine.

It sounds like the driver called in about his positive diagnosis only after going home from his shift, and i assume you would have already started yours, so perhaps management wasn't aware before you started.

While i dont' drive a machine, I do work in an office cubicle that is manned around the clock. I bring my own keyboard and mouse, and do a thorough clean of every surface before I sit down. We are allowed a certain amount of cleaning time between shifts.

Do you have an on-site safety manager that you could talk to or file a complaint?

To be fair, only a few of us have caught it (and a few more suspected cases earlier on). Not bad considering we're in a high risk area. Biggest threat to me seems to be warehouse guys and forklift drivers etc, who try and get close and talk over the noise of the wagon (which needs to be running to lift stuff). It's like a game where they step forwards and I step back lol.

Yep, rubbing your eyes will have to be a hell no right now.

Regardless of the droplets I just don’t think it’s likely you’ll catch it. Think about taxis/public transport/shops/other workplaces etc - there’s many people who had to self-isolate yet carried out normal tasks the day before. It doesn’t mean that anyone who later uses the same taxi or visits the same place will catch COVID from past droplets as the disease isn’t that contagious.

It sounds like the driver called in about his positive diagnosis only after going home from his shift, and i assume you would have already started yours, so perhaps management wasn't aware before you started.^

They had my truck wiped down so they must've known. I do believe them as people don't tend to lie here as our depot manager loves watching back the cctv to catch people out (vehicle checks etc).

Regardless of the droplets I just don’t think it’s likely you’ll catch it. Think about taxis/public transport/shops/other workplaces etc - there’s many people who had to self-isolate yet carried out normal tasks the day before. It doesn’t mean that anyone who later uses the same taxi or visits the same place will catch COVID from past droplets as the disease isn’t that contagious.

You're probably right, although I'd imagine most people are pretty careful in taxis right now. If they spent the full day in them and didn't constantly sanitise due to thinking nobody else had been in it, they'd likely face a higher risk.

But chances are it's probably ok.

Unless I have misunderstood, the driver isn't positive? It is his wife that got the positive diagnosis right? Thread title is slightly misleading

In which case, I do feel it is a slight over-reaction to be so het up about it

Complete over reaction...unless of course you are going to be picking the buttons and switches in your truck then I don't see the issue tbh

It should have been deep cleaned.

If they went to the length of getting additional vehicles do that different people didn’t drive the same one, then they know there is a risk.

They will give the ‘fully sanitizer’ line. Ask whether the truck washing guy been trained to do a proper clean?

Just get a can of dettol spray and spray the cabin and all the knobs and levers.

But your truck hadn't been used by someone with covid?

I think you're over-reacting. Make sure you are washing your hands/sanitising regularly.

Well, he's now been confirmed positive as I suspected might be the case.

I'm surprised people think I'm overreacting given all the posts about people crying at the thought of going to Tesco's. Most of them would be beside themselves having to spend all day in a truck driven by somebody with covid I'd have thought.

Now I think about it, didn't bus drivers have the highest rate of infection? This can only be from touching infected surfaces as there is a screen which protects from droplets.