Accommodating a Diabetic at Work

Bellwood said:

The fridges in their building are used by a lot of people, that may be why they'd like their own separate fridge - I imagine it would only take one person to accidentally drop a box of insulin when moving things around to ruin it.

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Plus if the fridge door was left open for a long period of time the insulin would have to used up within 28 days.

I commend you for taking a interest in your employee's welfare @Bellwood, perhaps you should mention the Frio Wallets to them as they may not be aware that such a product exists to keep insulin cool. Best wishes.

Squire Fulwood said:

When at work I was a staff manager and I had diabetics on the staff. If I knew then what I know now I would have bought them a lockable fridge from my own money and installed it in a room where they could go and inject. Does anybody else not want that?

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If you had done that for me I would have found it to be an insult and would have ignored the facility completely. That's shutting me away and frankly, it's wrong.

Bellwood said:

Only an employee and I benefit too - I suffer from peanut anaphylaxis and they're very good about food safety at work functions =)

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Firstly, I'll be clear that I am not an insulin dependent diabetic, so am not commenting on those grounds.

My only comment would be to ask if this has really been thought through by all concerned. Clearly your employee has made a request it's physically possible to fulfill, but perhaps the employer needs to think a bit and find out why the employee deems the personal fridge to be necessary..

Where I just have a bit of a niggle is should something go wrong - perhaps the fridge malfunctions, or there 's a protracted power cut, maybe even out of hours. So nobody knows it has happened, or the news isn't cascaded down through the employees on a routine no need for the detail basis and the diabetic employee goes about their business as usual, but just by natural usage needs to call upon the insulin stored in the fridge. Oooops. I hasn't been kept in the correct temperature range, and if he becomes unwell as a result, who will end up on the accountable step?

I have no idea what you have in place to deal with that potential situation, but, as a former manager of lots of people, I would want to have a protective, signed, statement in place from the outset to ensure that the employee is accountable to checking the state of the fridge and his insulin, otherwise there could be a bit of a tiff.

Routinely, who will be responsible to ensuring the temperature gauge is set correctly?

And who has to clean the fridge? If it's locked, do the cleaning staff have a key to clean it in rotation with other kitchen equipment? Will they be willing to do it at all, bearing in mind the medical nature of it's content.

Obviously, I'm being pedantic here, but it's these sorts of things that can lead to tension if things go wrong; particularly if the employee feels "their" fridge will have some kind of protective force field around it.

I'll spare you any detail about a scenario I had with an indirect report who used to go loopy if anyone touched, let alone sat on, his ultra posh (also ultra expensive) chair which was provided as he sometimes has a dodgy back.

I'm absolutely not trying to dissuade your supportive attitude, but you don't know this guy, and he already seems to have some considered odd ideas/requirements/expectations.

noblehead said:

Plus if the fridge door was left open for a long period of time the insulin would have to used up within 28 days.

I commend you for taking a interest in your employee's welfare @Bellwood, perhaps you should mention the Frio Wallets to them as they may not be aware that such a product exists to keep insulin cool. Best wishes.

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Sorry, noblehead, I hadn't noticed your post before going into type. You broach the same point I was making.

tim2000s said:

If you had done that for me I would have found it to be an insult and would have ignored the facility completely. That's shutting me away and frankly, it's wrong.

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Is there anything I could have done to please you then? Let me know/

Hi. I agree that a fridge should not be needed unless the person is still using vials. A small cheap fridge shouldn't cost much but I might want to ask why the employee really needs a fridge?

I would definitely suggest a frio wallet if your employee is concerned about the temperature of their insulin. I have travelled in 40 degree heat without a fridge, storing my insulin in a wallet - seems ridiculous to me. A room to inject though would be a good idea

I think you should discuss whether your employee wants a room to inject rather than just providing one. As I've mentioned before, I would be rather unhappy that I was expected to go away and hide. You may find that they would rather educate colleagues that will be working in close proximity about their condition.

they might be on a pump and want to keep a supply in the fridge incase it runs out whilst at work, and may not be on MDI