If Tesco can sell them to adults, could a workplace.....for a nominal sum that you may or may not bother to collect.
In general I like the idea - though I might change the name. The "**** up box" maybe. Make it a bit less touchy feely / nanny state.
A huge tub of MSG
Patronising? FFS, there are some mardy pricks about aren't there. This is no more than "need a safety pin or a paracetamol - no need to tour the office asking for one, here's a box with some in"
Indigestion tablets?
And a dark quiet room.
Little sowing kit?
a tiny trowel & plant pot?
Small bag of John Innes? 😉
TBF, a sewing kit is one of the better suggestions so far!
toothpaste and some sealed cheap toothbrushes, maybe dental floss
A butter knife.
A cheque to allow early retirement.
A sense of reality for those who think doing a little bit to make work more comfortable for staff is patronising.
Little sowing kit?
Benefits will be reaped.
I dunno - I think that maybe being slightly inconvenienced by having to find a neurofen when you need one, might maybe be part of the process of nudging people towards being able to look after themselves…. Might occur to them to keep some in their bag/desk drawer/ glove compartment in future.
see also: “forgetting to apply deodorant” ffs
See forgetting to apply deodorant” ffs
See, being responded to a job in middle of the summer where you are inside a hot vehicle for over an hour, then when the roof is removed to exposed the bleaching sun for 30 minutes. All while wearing PPE, then to get back to find your bottle deodorant you had has fallen out of your bag.
I've been in a workplace that had Paracetamol in a vending machine. It's one way of getting around HSE advice about keeping them in FAK or being given to workers by other workers. There are additional safety stops that you have to enforce as well, but its not insurmountable.
Frozen sausages.
Hammer.
This is a weird idea to me. Never had a workplace with stuff like this.
but you worked in nhs and care homes - a weird dichotomy of being very caring and not caring about staff at the same time. I’ll bet in each workplace there was someone who had a magic desk drawer or handbag that could produce sewing kits, sanitary products etc for the less organised. This is just formalising the “office mum” without that kind hearted sole being out of pocket when chaotic staff forget their own.
Lemsip? Gtf. You need to be off sick if you need a lemsip.
100% agree
Pills are a serious no no. Huge liability issue. Is the person allergic to ibuprofen? Do they have asthma? Liver issues?
Huge liabilty issue even supplying them.
im not convinced. Got any case law? When someone was mid shift at the hospital with a splitting headache what did they do? If they asked a prescribing colleague did they take a full history etc?
It may actually be better for there to be a stable, well controlled, repeatable supply of the same drugs in the same place than to pretend that there isn’t someone in the office everyone else goes to in their hour of need who chucks whatever they have at people. I imagine my MiL was that person when she was working - she’ll happily offer her Diclofenac to anyone as “just strong ibuprofen”. Almost impossible to stop that culture in a normal workplace - but you could mitigate it by having OTC stuff on a self-serve basis. I’ve not checked the Medicines Act but I’m pretty sure I’ve seen paracetemol in a vending machine…
Assuming the idea of drugs doesn't get binned, has a packet of imodium been included in the list yet?
On my own first aid training it was emphasises that we are first aiders, not medics: Medics can provide medicine. The liability insurance provided for first aiders covers them for anything that occur as long as they were following their training, so they wouldn't be covered if they handed out medicines and something went wrong.
I wouldn’t be putting any kind of medicinal things in there for starters. We’re certainly not allowed them in the first aid box at work
Yep, this - I have painkillers at work but if anyone ever asks for them, I just say 'there's some on my desk but it is up to you if you want to take them'. I guess it's still a H&S fail, but I try to help.
Chainsaw? for adjustment of workplace culture and welfare
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Morning after pill.?
Keep your staff at work and save paying maternity leave
Some of those cardboard sick bowls. I was taken drastically ill at work a few weeks ago (labyrinthitis) and it would have been very handy to have some. I still have to apologise to the electrician about the Linbin we had to nick from his stores ....
I dunno – I think that maybe being slightly inconvenienced by having to find a neurofen when you need one, might maybe be part of the process of nudging people towards being able to look after themselves…. Might occur to them to keep some in their bag/desk drawer/ glove compartment in future.
It's an attempt to make the office a supportive environment, not some bootcamp for life.
Why? You can buy them from a supermarket without those sorts of questions being asked, you accept the responsibility when doing so
I remember having to do the "training" to sell it in a supermarket.
OK so it's only a 1 minute "they can buy 2 boxes of painkillers, and that includes a mix, don't re-serve them if they come back". It's over simplistic, but it's enough to stop the average person accidentally selling you too much lempsip and paracetamol at the same time even if it occasionally stops you doing something fine like selling paracetamol and ibuprofen together.
Yes it's daft, but so are people. They'll take paracetamol and nuromol or cold+flu, or lempsip, they'll take paracetamol for a hangover (whilst still probably unfit to drive), they'll take ibuprophen until they have stomach ulcers, and then take more for the stomach ulcers (I've actually done that one, I don't tolerate ibuprofen very well).
By saying "little personal emergency" its like saying they're insignificant compared to work and they dont care about their staff.
Personal life should always come before work.
Surprised no one on here has said a covid test given the high amount of paranoia some have previously sought attention over.
toothpaste and some sealed cheap toothbrushes, maybe dental floss
Especially for Smelly Dave
So if you popped a button off your shirt you'd say a little sowing box would be ignored and you'd be offended if work had a wellness box on the grounds it insinuated your a pauper.
Or if you got caught short at that time of the month it was the patriarchals atempt at making you feel 2nd class?
Ffs very odd. I'd think its a top idea and shows half a desire to look after staff.
Weirdly, anyone can give workmates Paracetamol on request unless they’re first-aid trained in which case it’s controlled. It’s arse-backwards.
Drugs shouldn't be freely available but having them about for someone to ask for is ok. As always a written record of the request to cover backsides.
Does anyone have any paracetomol? Ok
Here take this paracetomol, Not Ok!
The liability is that by supplying drugs especially if you are the first aider you are professing to have knowledge above that of the lay person without actually having that knowledge. "You have pain, here take this pill it will help"
This is basic negligence stuff.
No workplace i have ever been in would supply drugs because we understand the law of negligence and of supply of drugs
The reason i find the whole concept patronising is its someone who does not know me has made an assessment of my needs without any idea what they are and has spent money in stuff that is at best useless to me. Its all about being able to say what a great employer you are not about the staff at all
A bicycle.
that is a reasonable point tbf. Why not ask the staff (even by way of anonymous suggestion box!) what they'd actually need/use rather than a bunch of argumentative mountain bikers 😂someone who does not know me has made an assessment of my needs without any idea what they are and has spent money in stuff that is at best useless to me
@tj your needs?
If its for a work place environment its for anyone in that employment.
Its not for anyone individually its for everyone. Dont need it dont use it.
Like saying stuff your fruit basket. I hate banana's.
sanitary products in the ladies loos
Well someone needs to go on a gender bias awareness course....
A lot of workplaces now just have a basket of sanitary towels / tampons in the women’s toilets. That means they are in the most useful place, and if someone is feeling too short of cash to be able to afford their own, then it’s less obvious than having to go to a box in the office each time.
Safety pins and sewing kit, maybe. Paracetamol / ibuprofen I’d be less sure about. I’ve worked with supposedly intelligent people who had no idea that Lemsip had paracetamol in, so they were alternating the two every couple of hours.
Some sort of charging station would probably be handy - but what happens when 2 people both want to charge their iPhones at the same time?
The liability is that by supplying drugs especially if you are the first aider you are professing to have knowledge above that of the lay person without actually having that knowledge. “You have pain, here take this pill it will help”
Read what I wrote again where I said just this.
Having the drugs available for people to request themselves is ok and always has been.
What am I missing please?
covid test kits
Sandwich
I think your basic point is fine up untill the employer provides the pills. So getting some of a co worker is fine. From your employer not ok.
Maybe I’m just in a bad mood today – but I’d find this incredibly patronizing/infantilizing. “shat your pants at work again? Poor you! Come and see Janet who’ll give you a wet wipe and a change of undies”
To be fair, I once celebrated a successful month end in an otherwise unsuccessful Recruitment Consultant career by hitting the Guinness hard. I sharted at work the next day and had to go out to buy wet wipes and pants.
The liability is that by supplying drugs especially if you are the first aider you are professing to have knowledge above that of the lay person without actually having that knowledge. “You have pain, here take this pill it will help”
But that's precisely what this is not. Its not a first aid kit or first aider providing something in response to a symptom, its an office full of adults saying "there's a bunch of stuff over there which they sell in the co-op round the corner but to save you popping out to the shop we've made it available for your convenience". So if you have pain and think, I wonder if I can get some over-the-counter analgesics you can make your own decision; if you need someone else to tell you what to take you probably need to go home!
This is basic negligence stuff.
You can keep saying its a liability issue and basic negligence stuff but a quick google will tell you that first aid at work trainers seem to be "quoting" the HSE as saying words to the effect of no drugs except aspirin in the first aid kit but they recognise that having a way to access household medications in the workplace may be useful, make sure they are in their original packaging and the general public don't have access. And nobody has cited any case of a "friend" being liable for dishing out pills from their personal supply never mind making the box, instructions etc clear for all to access.
Negligence requires a duty of care, a breach of that duty, damage caused by the breach, foreseeability of the damage. Employers have a duty of care to their employees, but beyond that, I think you are into hypothetical whataboutery. I think if there's forseeability that a colleague may dispense their own medication (there is - anyone who's ever worked in an office will have seen that happen) in lieu of any company provision then providing a proper solution - properly packed OTC drugs on a self service basis, is actually a risk reduction.
No workplace i have ever been in would supply drugs because we understand the law of negligence and of supply of drugs
But your workplaces have all been "clinical" type settings where (1) Having self-sevice medication would be a confusing issue; (2) there were loads of drugs and professionals around to tap in to - or are you saying when you were working on the ward and someone had a headache nobody ever got any drugs from a colleague? I find that hard to believe, especially since "nipping off to the shop" is not really encouraged when you are supposed to care for patients. FWIW I don't actually think clinicians do understand the law of negligence very well - you might know the rules about drug supply but I'll hazzard a guess that other than the Pharmacists in your institution very few have ever read the Medicine's Act or know the rules about GSL drugs because it is not part of your job (without looking it up, can you tell me if the law says the 2x16 rule is law or guidance? does it say that 2x 16 paracetemol and 1x 16 ibuprofen is against the rules etc?).
The reason i find the whole concept patronising is its someone who does not know me has made an assessment of my needs
No it's someone who doesn't know you making a judgment on the sort of things that crop up in office environments that cause inconvenience, embarrassment, hassle and providing some things that might be useful. The original questionner rather than presuming their previous needs are others has done a sensible thing and asked a wider audience. Now, if in 6 weeks time someone in his office says, you know it would be really helpful if we had "shoelaces" in there I'm sure it can be added - this isn't the NHS where once a rule has been created it must stay like that forever.
without any idea what they are and has spent money in stuff that is at best useless to me.
You get to be smug then about how organised you are and never need such things... right up until the moment you burst your trousers and need a needle and thread, or have a puncture on your bike and discover you didn't pack your puncture repair kit etc.
Its all about being able to say what a great employer you are not about the staff at all
Some people will see it like that. Some will see it as keeping people at their desks rather than wandering off looking for stuff. Probably if you are a "newbie" in a strange office, particularly if you are relatively young and not used to just solving some of the world's problems this is a good thing - it means you don't need to go grovelling to the office matriarch to get help.
someone who does not know me has made an assessment of my needs without any idea what they are and has spent money in stuff that is at best useless to me
Do you get this upity about wheelchair ramps?
Not all nice things have to be of benefit to everyone.
I work in an office that doesn't even provide tea, coffee and biscuits. So I think it's great if other employers manage to care slightly more about not being the bare minimum 🤣
Right or wrong, the notion that it's perfectly fine to give a colleague a couple of paracetamol unless you've been first aid trained in which case it's forbidden beggars any sort of common sense.
I think there's a lot of confusion about things like paracetamol at work. You can have them in the office and you can even make some-one responsible for them (Its best practice if you do that to note the dose and time in the accident book) It's not best practice to have medicines or tablets in the FAK. The HSE are completely fine with employers making them available in vending machines or handed out by the responsible person as long as public can't get at them, and there' measures in place to prevent overdoses.
“Hey! Everyone. There’s some welfare boxes in the toilets, staff room and other convenient areas for people to use as is, we’ve put various things in that people may need.”
TJ “How patronising to offer little things that people may need without asking every individual.”
