Staff rooms

kleapatra

I wonder if any of you lovely people can help me.......

I work in a large building and there are approx 120 staff (32 ish of these being full time)
My problem is that there is no where to eat my lunch other than at my desk. There is no where to heat food (a microwave would be sufficient) or simply get away from your desk.
Don't get me wrong, this is a niggly small problem rather than a monumental one but I was wondering if there's any legislation about such things. The HR dept seem to throw ridiculously trivial matters/new policies on a daily basis at us so I was hoping if there was any legislation I could throw this at them!
We do have a cafe that is open to the public (its a building that is open to the public) but their prices are horrific and obviously we can't can't eat our own food there.
Anyone got any ideas?

aileth

Can't really help with legislation, but is the cafe part of your company? If so, can you ask HR to request from them that you can eat your own lunches there? Or if not, maybe HR can 'do a deal' with them to allow their employees to eat there maybe at a discounted rate on the flash of a badge? Chances are HR cannot be bothered, but it's worth a shot.

ohreally

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1992/3004/regulation/25/made

ohreally

Drinking water

An adequate supply of wholesome drinking water must be provided (Regulation 22). Suitable cups should also be provided, unless the drinking water is in the form of an upward drinking jet.

If the cups are not disposable, there must be a convenient location to wash them. The preference is for a mains supply, though bottled water/water dispensers can be provided as a secondary source.

Clothing facilities

All workers should be provided with suitable space to hang any of their own clothes not worn at work - this can be within the workroom, if appropriate.

Where workers have to change from their own clothes for work, they must be provided with adequate and suitable accommodation both to change in and to secure their own clothes.

Where special clothing (eg uniforms, overalls, thermal clothing) is worn for work and left at work, there must be suitable accommodation for it, including adequate drying facilities, if it is likely to become wet. (Regulations 23 & 24)

Rest facilities

Regulation 25 requires the provision of adequate rest facilities. Separate rest rooms must be provided if workers are unable to sit and rest at their workstations. Any such rooms or areas should contain seats and tables, in sufficient numbers for the workers who may use the facility at any one time.

Where workers are unable to eat meals in the work area (eg due to risk of contamination), there must be adequate provisions made within rest areas/rooms.

All rest rooms/areas must include suitable arrangements to protect non-smokers from exposure to tobacco smoke.

Pregnant women and nursing mothers must be provided with suitable rest areas.

kleapatra

aileth wrote: »

Can't really help with legislation, but is the cafe part of your company? If so, can you ask HR to request from them that you can eat your own lunches there? Or if not, maybe HR can 'do a deal' with them to allow their employees to eat there maybe at a discounted rate on the flash of a badge? Chances are HR cannot be bothered, but it's worth a shot.

The cafe is actually outsourced to a third party (a fairly recent thing) and we do get staff discount (20%) but when the cheapest sandwich is £6 thats a really expensive lunch when I could just bring leftovers in and reheat them! The food (unbelieveably at that price) is also pretty rubbish and they would also definitely not be open to us eating our own food!

Kayalana99

ohreally wrote: »

Rest facilities

Regulation 25 requires the provision of adequate rest facilities. Separate rest rooms must be provided if workers are unable to sit and rest at their workstations. Any such rooms or areas should contain seats and tables, in sufficient numbers for the workers who may use the facility at any one time.

Where workers are unable to eat meals in the work area (eg due to risk of contamination), there must be adequate provisions made within rest areas/rooms.

All rest rooms/areas must include suitable arrangements to protect non-smokers from exposure to tobacco smoke.

Pregnant women and nursing mothers must be provided with suitable rest areas.

I guess not then.

Southend1

Does your employer recognise a union? This is the kind of issue where some collective campaigning could persuade the employer to provide adequate facilities

theoretica

Could you and some colleagues team up on a cheap microwave and would your work be OK with you putting it somewhere? We did something similar with a coffee machine. I just looked on Argos and at £60 the cheapest would pay for itself fairly soon.

*Scarlett

Usually if you want to get a microwave or any appliance for the workplace it needs to be tested to make sure it is safe. I think it's PAT (portable appliance testing) so I don't think you can just bring in your own microwave if indeed you and collegues wanted to unless it was approved by the company.

Southend1

*Scarlett wrote: »

Usually if you want to get a microwave or any appliance for the workplace it needs to be tested to make sure it is safe. I think it's PAT (portable appliance testing) so I don't think you can just bring in your own microwave if indeed you and collegues wanted to unless it was approved by the company.

Brand new appliances don't need testing and in any case I think (hopefully someone more knowledgable will confirm) that a visual inspection is adequate for most items

Going4TheDream

Southend1 wrote: »

Brand new appliances don't need testing and in any case I think (hopefully someone more knowledgable will confirm) that a visual inspection is adequate for most items

We were told at work brand new electrical items dont need pat testing initially but need to go on the register so that they can be tested after 12 months. Visual inspection alone is not enough. Even if we bring our own things is like radio's, ipod docks etc we have to put them on the register for testing