• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

What are work responsible for?

J

j666gak

Member
Messages
20
Location
South Yorkshire
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hello,

I have work for the same company for 2.5 years now, and a part from notifying work that i'm diabetic in case I had a hypo that was. But we now have a new HR person who is now going to be located at my site. I have now been told that somebody is going to come and see me to do an assessment to check that the company are meeting my needs/requirements for my diabetes.

The thing is i'm not sure what work are actually responsible for? ie a lock fridge? etc Can anybody advise me, or have any ideas.

Thanks
Guy
 
I'd take the opportunity to look at it from the other angle, do work do anything to prevent you from having good control of your diabetes? Do they provide privacy to test/inject if needed? Do you get you meal times at a regular time, if there is a danger of a hypo are you always on site with someone who knows what to do and where to find whatever you use for emergency glucose? I'm no expert these are just ideas, but I guess it may be more of a admin exercise to say a "risk assessment" has been done.
 
Your employer is under an obligation to make reasonable adjustments under the Disability Discrimination Act. For a lot of people with diabetes, that might only be allowing you time off work for medical appointments related to your diabetes care. My employer also made sure that when they were holding meetings with refreshments, my dietary needs were catered for (usually fresh fruit instead of danish pastries, puddings, cakes etc). Other people with diabetes may need different adjustments depending on their situation e.g. those with retinopathy. You could try for a fridge but it would depend on why you need it - champagne storage might not be easy to argue!!
 
Few things i'd suggest that need a good pondering, some have already been mentioned-

The registered first aider knows how to assist with a hypo if need be - not to put anything in your mouth if unconcious, ambulance procedure, where your hypo treatment is stored.

i would say ALL staff you work with need to be notified of the symptoms of a hypo and how to act, even if it's to alert the first aider - appearing drunk can be a symptom, which unfortunately can be missed for acting silly so is ignored on rare occasion.

A place for you to safely inject/test Bg's if you don't already have an area that is clean and comfortable for you to use.

Access to a sink to be able to wash your hands - i assume 99.9% workplaces will have this anyway.

An agreement on hospital appointments, make it clear what you attend annually and how often so they are already aware.

If refreshments are supplied for staff, tea, coffee juice, it's not unreasonable to request something sugar free if you would prefer.

Needs to be made aware that hypo's can be of different severity, some need more recovery time. So sometimes you can't always get straight back to work, preferably also having a place you sat sit and make sure you are fine to return to work safely.

I can't see a fridge being necessary as insulin is kept at room temp when in use, but if you would prefer to have access to one to keep spare insulin or a glucagon injection then this also in not unreasonable.

In my last work place i had a 'hypo buddy' she was the person i would leave the room with if i needed too, a simple tap on the shoulder and she would come with me no problems, i was in return her 'seizure buddy' as she has epilepsy. You could arrange something like this if you wanted too.

Keep a few stashes of hypo treatment in first aid boxes etc for easy access.

I assume many of these you will already have sorted, and some maybe you won't really need but all worth thinking about.

As said before it's probably easier to think what makes life harder at work with your diabetes and basically can it be changed to suit. Or anything that worries you, for example having a hypo and needing assistance but worrying nobody fully knows what procedures to follow. If you think of a problem it's easier to find a solution.
 
Back
Top