AIBu to eat a peanut butter sandwich at work?

[TwistMyMelons]

Every time I take one I wonder if I’m being unreasonable to do this. I work in an open plan office. But I don’t have anyone sitting very close to me. It’s a quiet office and not one where I can reasonably ask people if they have allergies.
Is it ok for me to be eating a peanut butter sandwich in work or is it inconsiderate?? Please help 😂

HR will tell you if someone can't be in a room with nuts. If you were going to be seriously ill at work because of nuts, you'd tell people! We can't have nuts in our office due to a serious allergy. There's posters up everywhere.

You absolutely should if you have an anaphylactic child in your class. Not to analyse every morsel they eat, but to be aware of symptoms and how to treat them. Have you ever taught a child with an epipen, do you know whether it's located and how to use it? Likewise for children with asthma.

Despite the fact that there have been a number of fatalities in schools and most anaphylaxis happens in schools?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7292231/amp/Heartbroken-mother-releases-image-13-year-old-dying-hospital-pupil-threw-cheese-him.html

https://www.stamfordmercury.co.uk/news/mum-campaigns-to-change-law-after-son-died-from-allergic-rea-9322188/

@Nevermay

There are many children with asthma in every class, I don't know who exactly, but would know if they were having an attack, obviously. Allergy information, not so much. Most children ate allergic to something, aren't they. I wouldn't know who was allergic to what or how badly - it is secondary, so they will be responsible for themselves.

middle people with severe allergies are already restricted where they can work. For example DS can't just get a summer job pot washing or in a cafe etc, and even a supermarket is iffy. Office work is perfectly reasonable for someone with severe allergies.

No, that was a fevered dream you had.

Attitudes like this are why this petition is so important https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/633614?fbclid=PAAaZbpJ5WfAXX_ADIZ8nX0gl3nSlSCUe4Ye8vCFSxNoESypvWxROlGAO7c0U

@Nevermay even if you don't care about being able to save the child's life, you might care if you knew how awful the subsequent investigation and possible prosecution would be. You can't afford to not know

People could have any allergies so I don’t think you need to restrict what you eat until you hear that someone in your office has an allergy.

So no wheat, no milk, no eggs, no shellfish, no sesame. It's a challenging catering requirement but not impossible.

So we can ban milk from everywhere then? Because that is the number one cause of death from anaphylaxis in children now ?

And we can ban egg, wheat, kiwi, fish ...? Because they all are very common causes anaphylaxis?

In fact any food can cause anaphylaxis...

I think you misunderstand the situation in schools. Many teachers have done epipen training, I have many times, but the training goes out of date very quickly, and there is no time to keep updating it, as well as all the other training you have to update.

I would not be held responsible, or prosecuted if a pupil had anaphylactic shock - it is not my responsibility and cannot be pinned on me

I have dealt with a student in severe life threatening shock in the past, but it had never happened before and they were not listed as having an allergy.

Many children, in their school records are listed as having allergies, there is no indication of level of seriousness, and parents are unlikely to update the lists - I certainly didn't when my children were at school!

I take your point it might be useful to know who has an epipen, maybe I could find that out, but it is extremely unlikely to make any difference whether I know or not.

You cant make teachers responsible for allergies in schools, it just wont work. Teachers are responsible for more than enough as it is - first aiders are responsible for allergic reaction, and are paid to be.

Trying to hold teachers responsible for yet more stuff will simply result in fewer teachers, and we don't have enough as it is, so all children will be less safe.

Hence we are back to where we started, nuts are banned in my school, and in most schools I have worked in

Teachers might not want to be responsible, but if a child died there is no way the investigation wouldn't be utterly horrendous, and imagine not being able to look the child's parents in the eyes and say "I did everything I could".

You don't have time to wait for the first aider if there is anaphylaxis and you can't move the child.

I take your point it might be useful to know who has an epipen, maybe I could find that out, but it is extremely unlikely to make any difference whether I know or not.

This leads into the questions I was about to ask. If a child went into anaphylaxis in your classroom a) how would you recognise it b) would you know where their rescue meds were and c) would you know how to use them.

Because knowing who is at risk for anaphylaxis, where to find their epipens and how to use it is the difference between life and death. A delay while you figure out why they've fainted or if they're having an asthma attack, and then search for the meds could well prove fatal.

@Nevermay nuts are banned yet the leading cause of anaphylaxis is milk....

I've never worked anywhere that banned peanuts

Peanut butter sandwiches in the office are fine, the only foods that cause a problem are those which are noisy to eat or smelly (fish, curry, polish sausage etc.). There's the allergy thing but I don't worry about that, it's the responsibility of those with the allergy to manage their condition and publicise it in advance if they're concerned about someone eating it nearby.

I think you are confusing intolerances and allergies.

about 90% of anaphylactic incidents in the UK are caused by nuts

Most the most common intolerance in the world is milk. And it isn't even really an intolerance, anymore than people are "intolerant" of eating sand.

Milk is not an adult food, it is a baby food, human babies can digest it, human adult can't. Except in two populations where a mutation has lead to the continuation of a baby enzyme into adulthood, some white northern Europeans, and the massia in Kenya/Tanzania

Therefore, 80% of the worlds adult population can't digest milk - and some white northern europeans class that as an "intolerance" when it is actually the human norm, and they are the deviants.

It could make people very ill, and even be dangerous, as could eating sand, but this is not a medical problem, this is the biological norm

If an adult has an allergy, then it's up to them to manage it. Whether that involves turning down cakes colleagues have brought in "just in case", or talking to HR about banning the allergen from the building.

If you haven't heard anything, eat what you want until you hear otherwise.

Never worked anywhere where peanuts ate banned. I would say you are fine unless HR says anything.

So funny, I’ve been contemplating this on my way into work with a peanut butter sandwich in my bag!

Can I recommend Wow Butter for anyone who is worried, it’s like peanut butter but is nut free (made with soya). They sell it in Holland and Barrett, it’s expensive but soooooo delicious! I love peanut butter but think Wow Butter is nicer.

Great for school packed lunches too (that’s why I started buying it).

Unless somebody has a nut allergy, the YANBU. Crack on!

Incorrect and utterly ignorant. Milk is the leading cause of death from anaphylaxis in children in the UK

And I have witnessed my son have several anaphylactic reactions to it.

(People can be intolerant to milk (non IgE) but they can also be anaphylactic (IgE))

Both Benedict Blythe and Karanbir Cheema died in school from milk allergies. In Karanbir's case the cheese was just thrown at him , he didn't eat it

I've eaten peanut butter sandwiches at work plenty of times. several of my colleagues took the piss and said it was a kid's lunch, but no-one at any point mentioned allergies.