Nuts are off the menu at regional media group Archant following a ‘potentially severe incident’involving a member of staff.
One response might have been to suggest that the individual involved brings in their own lunch in future. Archant has instead decided to embark on a group-wide nuts fatwa.
Not content to ban nuts from catering outlets, staff have also been banned from bringing “nuts and nut products” on to compamy premises.
Surely such drastic action is only going to send nut-consumption ‘underground’, possibly leading to unregulated roasting, high salt content, black-market prices and so on…
Here is the full amazing email from Group Health and Safety Manager Lester Marshall:
Nut allergy is on the increase and the latest estimates are that 1 in 200 people may have this life-threatening condition. Following a potentially severe incident with one of our staff this week we have taken expert advice and then discussed the matter at Group level. After careful consideration we have taken the decision to instruct Olive catering to remove products that contain nuts or nut products, which will happen over the next few weeks.
Whilst we are doing all that we can to remove nuts from the premises we cannot guarantee that all products will be nut-free, and if you have an allergy you are advised to continue to read food labels. Such action is now commonplace in schools and colleges with many employers following their lead after assessing the risks.
As this can be a life-threatening condition, we ask staff to refrain from bringing nuts and nut products into the building.
We are sorry that this may be a slight inconvenience to those who enjoy these products but this is far outweighed by the risk of not responding appropriately.
A nut allergy factsheet can be found on the Intranet together with some questions and answers.
Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog