Spectacular breach of self-isolation in work today

LegacyUser

Would prefer to post this anonymously, So I work in an office of about 40 people, we have been practicing social distancing for the past 2 weeks in relation to seating, over that time 3 members of staff have been out with symptoms an have been self isolating. Finally the decision was made to close the office and switch to work from home, to do so we were asked to come in early and collect a laptop and other equipment to do so, lo and behold the 3 members of staff dropped by to pick up their gear. I am almost physically ill with anger I literally don't know who to call and report this, the HSE? the Guardai?

Xterminator

does your job have a dedicated health and safety dept?

lunamoon

Hardly there fault the company didn't arrange for their equipment to be delivered to them is it? How did expect them to get it?

MEGA BRO WOLF 5000

AnonymouslyAngry wrote: »

Would prefer to post this anonymously, So I work in an office of about 40 people, we have been practicing social distancing for the past 2 weeks in relation to seating, over that time 3 members of staff have been out with symptoms an have been self isolating. Finally the decision was made to close the office and switch to work from home, to do so we were asked to come in early and collect a laptop and other equipment to do so, lo and behold the 3 members of staff dropped by to pick up their gear. I am almost physically ill with anger I literally don't know who to call and report this, the HSE? the Guardai?

Work organised employees to pick up equipment, they picked it up...and you want to call the Gardaí.

Ok. Take a deep breath.

Tork

Hysterical much?

We're short of some crucial details here.
1. How long were these 3 people self-isolating? If they're out for 15 days and don't develop any symptoms, they're free to go outside again.
2. Why didn't your employer arrange to leave their equipment out to their homes?
3. Who are you bursting at rage with? It's your employer who is largely at fault here. If they didn't want to leave the gear out to these self-isolating members of staff, they should've come up with an alternative plan that'd involve them not meeting other people.
4. For all you know, other colleagues in your office have the virus too and have not yet developed the symptoms.
5. If these self-isolating people didn't collect their gear, would their jobs and pay have been at risk?

lainey_d_123

lunamoon wrote: »

Hardly there fault the company didn't arrange for their equipment to be delivered to them is it? How did expect them to get it?

Why are people just not getting it? Health and safety of other staff comes way before picking up work equipment. If people were out self isolating with symptoms, they shouldn't have been anywhere near the office. Equipment can be couriered, there are plenty of other ways of dealing with it than the clowns turning up and potentially infecting everyone else.

Tork

If the employer allowed the employees to come into the office before their 15 days were up, yes that's negligence. But until the OP can confirm how long they are out, pointing fingers at these so-called clowns is futile. Perhaps their manager knows more about their self-isolation and current health than the OP does.

someone popping in and grabbing a laptop isnt a big deal

hanging around in a confined space for a while, being in close contact, yes.

popping in and grabbing a laptop, no.

if we have to do this with every single activity twill get very tiresome

lunamoon

lainey_d_123 wrote: »

Why are people just not getting it? Health and safety of other staff comes way before picking up work equipment. If people were out self isolating with symptoms, they shouldn't have been anywhere near the office. Equipment can be couriered, there are plenty of other ways of dealing with it than the clowns turning up and potentially infecting everyone else.

Yes it’s up to the company to arrange this.

Kerry25x

[Deleted User] wrote: »

someone popping in and grabbing a laptop isnt a big deal

hanging around in a confined space for a while, being in close contact, yes.

popping in and grabbing a laptop, no.

if we have to do this with every single activity twill get very tiresome

I think you're missing the point that these people were symptomatic and supposed to be self isolating. Assuming they were still in the isolation period and had symptoms recently then I would be pissed too.

radiotrickster

[Deleted User] wrote: »

someone popping in and grabbing a laptop isnt a big deal

hanging around in a confined space for a while, being in close contact, yes.

popping in and grabbing a laptop, no.

if we have to do this with every single activity twill get very tiresome

If you’re self-isolating, you have to stay inside. You can’t go out to work. We don’t even know how these people got to work (like if they took public transport). They shouldn’t have been out for anything, doesn’t matter the reason.

leggo

Yeah it’s a dumb oversight, perhaps on the part of management or the employees. But come on OP. We didn’t even know the terms self-isolation or social distancing 6 weeks ago...people are going to get it wrong sometimes and that’s okay, nobody is perfect. I can totally sympathise with an employee who’s worried they’re going to get sacked or not get paid if they don’t have a laptop, in a situation where they don’t know if they’ll be allowed into the office again because further government clampdowns could come without notice tomorrow.

What’s happening here, quite clearly, is that this situation has obviously got you stressed to bits and you’re lashing out. And that’s okay too, there’s a lot of that now. But take stock of what you’ve got now: you don’t have to come in and out of work anymore, the fact you can work from home means your job is safe and you don’t have to worry about getting laid off or not getting paid, and now you’re in total control of your own exposure to the virus because you don’t have to leave your house unless you decide to. That’s your situation right now, the rest has either happened and can’t be taken back or is out of your control so there’s no point worrying. It could be a lot worse.

Kablamo!

AnonymouslyAngry wrote: »

Would prefer to post this anonymously, So I work in an office of about 40 people, we have been practicing social distancing for the past 2 weeks in relation to seating, over that time 3 members of staff have been out with symptoms an have been self isolating. Finally the decision was made to close the office and switch to work from home, to do so we were asked to come in early and collect a laptop and other equipment to do so, lo and behold the 3 members of staff dropped by to pick up their gear. I am almost physically ill with anger I literally don't know who to call and report this, the HSE? the Guardai?

Please don't trouble the HSE or the Gardaí with this. They're under serious pressure as it is without having to deal with these type of nuisance calls.