I have a nut allergy and colleague eating nuts in office.

[Yewdontknowme]

I’ve been working with this company since June. It’s with a small company with two open plan rooms in the same building. There is no HR department just the owners and the general manager and supervisors. One room is nut free as myself and an intern are severely allergic, the other room is ok for nuts. We never have to go into the other office. We are allocated space based on what we do within the company and wfh isn’t an option. For the past few months everything has been great.

A supervisor has returned to our office this past fortnight after maternity leave. It seems she is really popular among the other women in the office. She has ignored all the signs and warnings and has been eating nuts at her workstation, which is making me wheeze and my throat and mouth are itching until I get away home. I’m working dosed up on piriton and with fingers crossed I don’t need to use my epipen.

Our manager is a bit of a coward so has been trying to deal with this woman calmly including offering her a space in the other room but she’s refusing to swap rooms as she wants to be with her friends and likes the bigger workspace she has. She is claiming it’s discriminating against her as a returning mother and a vegetarian and so she will continue to eat what she wants, as in her words “they’re not eating the nuts themselves so they’ll be ok”. For what it’s worth I too am a vegetarian. She also told us to get epipens. Myself and the intern can’t go into the other room as the work in there is totally different to what we do. We need the facilities in this space. Our manager has told us we need to sort it out among ourselves.

I appreciate this is a management problem but what am I supposed to do in the meantime? I’m still on probation and this woman is a long standing staff member. It took me a long time to find this job after redundancy in lockdown and I’m terrified I’ll be laid off after my probationary period runs out because of the drama this causes. I can start looking for another job but I fear it will take me over a year again.

AIBU to expect the manager to deal with this woman instead of having to sort out a ‘compromise’ myself?

Under the management of health and safety at with regulations 1999, relation 7 requires every workplace with more than 5 employees to appoint a competent health & safety advisor

https://www.hse.gov.uk/simple-health-safety/gettinghelp/index.htm

ask ti speak to your company’s competent health & safety advisor as defined under the regulations. They should be able to advise and take action.

“I am the bolshy type so would strongly consider calling an ambulance one day. “ That’s not bolshy, that’s a waste of resources and no wonder the country is a bloody mess.

Why is anyone eating at their desk? There’s a canteen or break out area surely? Is there break out area?
Speak to her first, then HR if you have one, your union rep or ACAS. If your manager is that spineless I’d seriously consider changing jobs as it seems you’ll be at the bottom of the pecking order when it comes to promotion too.

I’d get medical evidence from my G.P also- your colleague is being a dick.

I also would be going down the health and safety route

Have you shared this advice with your employer?

I would write an email to your manager (cutting in your owner) along these lines

As previously discussed, there is a colleague repeatedly breaking the office rules and putting my health in danger whilst in your workplace.
While i appreciate you having put processes in place to ensure my safety in the workplace by ensuring no nuts are consumed in my workspace, this it pointless if you continue not to enforce them.

I have raised this issue with you on many occasions, and i don't feel your response "for me deal with the colleague myself" as an adequate response as a manager who owes me a duty of care.

Due to this issue, my health has been deteriorating while i am in work to the extent of me having to medicate daily, which is obviously not acceptable. I will be working from home until you can enforce the safety processes in place.

If she carries an epi pen it's a "proper" allergy 🙄

Good God. What a selfish bitch. I cannot believe how obnoxious and arrogant some people can be!
You need to speak to your manager about working from home if your workspace is compromising your health. No way would I be putting up with that, I don’t care how superficially popular she is.
Once again, what a selfish bitch.

Oh good grief @Yewdontknowme you are being perfectly reasonable. I can’t believe how obnoxious your colleague is and how ineffective your manager is. I’m also vegetarian. I can manage working hours without nits!

I used to work with someone with a nut allergy. Everyone was respectful of that, with dedicated spaces for eating nuts. The day he was blue-lighted to hospital because he’d used a mouse that some who’d been eating nuts had used the previous day, the whole office went nut-free. We used to have people eating Snickers on the doorstep, like smokers.

I realise that you don’t want to rock the boat. I realise that your manager is probably delighted to have this woman back from Mat leave and doesn’t want to offend her, but this really is a matter of life and death. Escalate as far as you can. ACAS is a good shout. Could you do a “tool box talk” type briefing on your allergy, symptoms, impacts, how you come into contact with nuts (ie airborne, nut oil on desks, not just eating them). Is there any material from allergy charities you could use?

Unless you work in an industry covered by the HSE, there is no action they can take. They do have info on their website though.

I suspect this woman isn't actually "really popular" as someone who argues her vegetarian rights to eat nuts trump those suffering allergies and suggesting epipens will sort it sounds like the sort of person who has form for being selfish at work and disrespectful of her colleagues. Following lots of the good advice here while continuing to be a good employee will most likely reap results.

I'd sort a letter from your GP or allergy consultant making it very clear how dangerous this is.

Plus using piriton all the time really isn't good for you so it isn't an appropriate solution

What kind of question is this?!!

No wonder people with allergies get met with awful treatment if some people think not all allergies are "proper allergies".

I think you need to get ACAS/a union/ other 3rd party representation involved.

Being at work in an environment full of nut particles is making you ill, it would not be unreasonable to be signed off sick until this is resolved.

The manager saying you have to sort it out anong yourselves is a total failure of management. It is literally their job to sort out things like this, that is why you have a management hierarchy rather than a flat structure of equals.

You need a nut free environment in order to be able to work within getting ill. Your employers are clearly able to provide this and have been doing so until recently. This is a reasonable adjustment to which you are legally entitled and failing to provide it is discriminatory and if not resolved would lead to a discrimination based constructive dismissal case against the company, which they would lose. In the event that any other employee needs to be able to eat nuts at work then a suitable workstation in the other room can be made available so there is no discrimination (which would only apply if there was an actual need for nuts rather than a preference) in the opposite direction.

All this needs to be pointed out in writing ideally first thing monday morning.

Your management should have done a training session, explaining what anaphylactic shock looks like and making sure that everyone knows where to find your epipen and how to administer it. If they can’t guarantee your safety you should demand tough until they do.

I very much doubt a doctor would write such a letter as there is no research to back it up

Next time she starts eating nuts, I would just say out loud you're having a reaction to them and your throat is tingling and starting to close. Be really dramatic.

Surely she won't continue to eat them if this happens each time.

Attempted murder??? It would have to be pre-meditated surely? Manslaughter at best

It is premeditated. She knows this could kill op and does it anyway, like she wants her to die.

I'd send an email to all staff with details of how to administer an epipen, and when to call 999.

Say that there are nuts in the holding that are causing you issues and you want everyone to be prepared for if/when the need arises.

Hopefully everyone will start discussing it and be panicked, and she'll then be embarrassed to sit there munching, as everyone will be on high alert.

This is shocking, what a complete bitch she is.

I’m on a diet and instead of chocolates etc, I have almonds as a snack every day but no way would I bring them to the office if they caused anyone distress.

I think you need to arm yourself with the right info on meeting your reasonable needs and take this to HR.

I am so annoyed for you. What an absolutely selfish colleague! And as for your manager - he has absolutely no business bring a manager if he can't address this.

Jane, two of your colleagues have a nut allergy which poses a risk to the life. It can cause a narrowing of the airwaves, anaphyephtic shock and potentially can kill them. The company has a duty of care to all staff and as a result nuts can't be eaten in the office. This is non negotiable and failure to stop may lead to disciplinary action. The nuts go or you do it really is that simple.

I honestly don't know what is wrong with dome colleagues and managers. It's like yesterday's dog lady post. Both she and this nut eater wouldn't last 5 mins in my workplace. They are taking positions that they could never win. Management, HR and H&S would have them shut down within minutes.

When similar happened to dd the other members of staff were very supportive of her and kpt telling the peanut eater to stop…they didn’t

dd was in floods of tears and when the manager came back to the office they told the peanut eater that they were not allowed peanuts in the office and sent dd home (she had to use holiday mind)

Oops

meant to say that hopefully your managre will step up and do the right thing. As others have said your manager has plenty of options

Don’t get the GP or allergy consultant involved. This is a workplace matter and should be resolved locally.

There is lots of misunderstanding about nut allergies on this thread but, regardless, a simple ban of food and snacks at the table should sort it.

BTW airplanes don’t ban nuts either.

What a prize idiot your colleague is. My son recently had a major reaction after almost 15 years of keeping him safe, it was terrifying. He has just been prescribed an Epi pen, he has recently started working and they have been great.

Anaphylaxis UK do workplace training which i suspect far more accurate than the advice on this thread..