company removing eletrical items from canteen

sexmag

Hi,

For years our canteens in a building the consiste of a number of floors has had coffee machines,micro waves,fridges,toasters,kettles etc and have been used without issue. Note that fridges,microwaves and vending machines had been priovided by the conpany, kettles,toasters,sandwich makers, coffee machines had not

In the last 24 hours a mail went around that all personal electrical item such as toasters,kettles etc had been removed and things suchs a fans at desks etc were to be removed from the premises by close of business under the rule of health and saftey. This leaves micro waves,fridge and vending machines but only because these are built into the walls and kitchens etc

I contacted the health and saftey authority for advice and they forward a pdf that has lots of usefull info but just not really explaining what i need to know.

I assume employers are under no obligation to allow these items on premises but after 10 years to only do it now and to leave some applieances and disregard others seems a bit strange.

Can anyone shed some light on this for me, can they do this? if so where do they draw the line to whats allowed and whats not.

Also to say this isnt the first time drastic changes have been made, recently they took all drawers away from desks and provided tiny lockers for things

Any opinions are welcome

listermint

All electrical items inside companys have to be electrically tested regularly (eu regs) also as the item is on premise it would assume the company is responsible for it. So if someone harms themselves in its use then they are liable.

its most likely the company is protecting itself. There is some incident proceeding this that clearly made the policy change. I suggest examining what that was.

Victor

listermint wrote: »

its most likely the company is protecting itself. There is some incident proceeding this that clearly made the policy change. I suggest examining what that was.

That or an inspection by the insurer.

sexmag

listermint wrote: »

All electrical items inside companys have to be electrically tested regularly (eu regs) also as the item is on premise it would assume the company is responsible for it. So if someone harms themselves in its use then they are liable.

its most likely the company is protecting itself. There is some incident proceeding this that clearly made the policy change. I suggest examining what that was.

Thanks for your reply.

Theres nothing i can recall, most people here are able enough to use a kettle.

There is a new security manager who we feel may be making these changes but its extreme, the canteens are pretty much a room now that people cant make toast it, also to add there is a food canteen on the bottom floor owned by the company and people feel theyre are pushing people to use it by doing this

C3PO

I'm a Facility/Operations manager and we have a policy that doesn't allow stand alone appliances such as kettles, toasters, electric heaters etc.

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We had a blanket removal of lots of electrical items a few months ago. They failed PAT testing.

JustAThought

Say it was an established practice to have them and that it is impacting on your ability to provide healthy nutritious food of your own making and ask that it be reinstated. Or ask for a pay increase to.compensayw for the extra overheads you will incur in relation to this abrupt change of the conditions of your employment. Figure out the costs of buying hot food elsewhere and multiply it into working weeks - that might focus them or get some reinstated.

You could also collectively go on a linger break to compensate for having to walk and Q for lunches - and also say ykur coats and shoes will get wet in the winter and will they he providing lockers and drying facilities to prrevent illness from sitting half the day in wet shoes and socks at the desk.

☺

dennyk

That's a common policy at many companies. Electrical appliances are fire and shock hazards, and the company doesn't want such equipment around if it's not provided by and maintained by them (which is a reasonable enough policy; sure, you might be responsible enough yourself, but that doesn't mean one of your coworkers isn't going to set the canteen on fire one of these days with some third-rate kettle or panini maker that they bought off Alibaba...). There's still microwaves and fridges for bringing in your lunches, and I'm sure you'd be able to get hot water from the company canteen one way or another to make a cup of tea.

Lockers instead of desk drawers are also a common security measure; give people unsecured drawers and they tend to leave sensitive documents in them that anyone could then sneak a peek at when they're away from their desk.

Odelay

JustAThought wrote: »

Say it was an established practice to have them and that it is impacting on your ability to provide healthy nutritious food of your own making and ask that it be reinstated. Or ask for a pay increase to.compensayw for the extra overheads you will incur in relation to this abrupt change of the conditions of your employment. Figure out the costs of buying hot food elsewhere and multiply it into working weeks - that might focus them or get some reinstated.

You could also collectively go on a linger break to compensate for having to walk and Q for lunches - and also say ykur coats and shoes will get wet in the winter and will they he providing lockers and drying facilities to prrevent illness from sitting half the day in wet shoes and socks at the desk.

☺

Don't do any of this.

dreamers75

Odelay wrote: »

Don't do any of this.

Do love some of the replies on here, the above is a cracker