Vulnerable person and cannot work from home

meoww999

Hi and sorry if this has been answered elsewhere.
I am in the vulnerable category in regard to social distancing as I have a heart condition meaning to practice it more stringently.  After hearing the press conference last Monday, I and many others in my situation thought we would be asked to self isolate for 12 weeks which would give the information for me to legally not attend work.  However, there obviously was a misunderstanding and only the extremely ill have been asked to do this.  This has left me with a problem as I cannot work from home and my job is in a large warehouse style setup with rows of people on computers approx 4-5 feet apart.  There is no ventilation as is just recirculated air, the hygiene is questionable among many staff and the absence policy tend to make people come in even when unwell.  The management have stated that they will not send anyone home who is unwell and that the decision to go home would be down to the employee.  When all taken as a whole, this concerns me a great deal.  I have spoken to my GP and they can't issue fit notes unless actually sick but did say it's not a good environment to be working in.  Has anyone got any advice in regards to what my employer is obligated to do to protect me?  If there is no safe space that we can agree on, should I be given the option to stay at home?  The wording is so vague on the government guidelines that it will be a difficult discussion and want to know exactly where I stand.
Thanks in advance and take care everyone.

calcotti

There is 'self-isolation' which normally lasts for 7 to 14 days
There is 'social distancing' which we are all encouraged to do, the vulnerable are strongly advised to do it. This is the 12 weeks your refer to.
There is also 'shield and protect' for the extremely vulnerable.
As far as I can tell only people who are self-isolating are entitled to be treated as sick.
The support for and rights of people who are social distancing or doing shield and protect appears, to me, unclear.
Really hope government will provide further guidance/clarification.

meoww999

Thanks for the reply.
This is the confusing thing.  I understand the self isolation and the shield and protect parts and at present they don't apply to my situation.  However the social distancing guidelines don't state a timeframe or how stringent a vulnerable person needs to be when following them ie in regards to work or a working environment.  As for employers guidance re vulnerable people,  it says to work from home where possible but not what happens when this isn't possible.  It makes no sense for me to stay in and away from people socially then to go and spend 8 hours sat next to others in my opinion.
As you say, there seems to be a lot of bluster with the government at the moment with no clear pathway for a lot of different situations.  I will try and speak to my work but they are very strict and inflexible so don't hold much hope of help!

Snow_Phoenix

I have found this news article earlier today which appears to have been taken from the public health England website which sets out those who they are advising to socially distance  as are extremely vulnerable for 12 weeks as the following: 

Full list of those falling into the extremely vulnerable group:

• solid organ transplant recipients
• people with specific cancers
• people with cancer who are undergoing active chemotherapy or radical radiotherapy for lung cancer
• people with cancers of the blood or bone marrow such as leukaemia, lymphoma or myeloma who are at any stage of treatment
• people having immunotherapy or other continuing antibody treatments for cancer
• people having other targeted cancer treatments which can affect the immune system, such as protein kinase inhibitors or PARP inhibitors.
• people who have had bone marrow or stem cell transplants in the last 6 months, or who are still taking immunosuppression drugs.
• people with severe respiratory conditions including all cystic fibrosis, severe asthma and severe COPD
• people with rare diseases and inborn errors of metabolism that significantly increase the risk of infections (such as SCID, homozygous sickle cell disease)
• people on immunosuppression therapies sufficient to significantly increase risk of infection
• women who are pregnant and who also have significant heart disease, congenital or acquired

But they are also stating if people are in one or more at risk groups they may be contacted by their GP or specialist to advise to socially distance. I guess they are still defining who the people are as I have also seen reported of people with diabetes should be socially distancing as are at increased risk. 

I think it may be a good idea for you to look at the information on covid 19 on the British Heart Foundations website as this would be most applicable to you. As you have not specified the heart condition it is difficult to say but they have provided good information on there. I am unable to post a link as am still quite new but the main address for the page is as follows with www. in front bhf.org.uk/informationsupport/heart-matters-magazine/news/coronavirus-and-your-health

meoww999

Thanks for the reply and the link.  
As you say, originally people with various illnesses such as diabetes were expecting to isolate rather than just social distance but now realise that it was just poor wording at the press conference on Monday.  The instructions for the extremely vulnerable as you posted is quite clear, it is for the vulnerable that is ambiguous and that is where I fit into as have heart failure.
I will try to speak to my employer with various information sources and see if they will sort something out.  Do you know what would happen if they can't sort me a safe space at work and I didn't want to go in?  Could that go down the disciplinary route at all?