Swine Flu

[jaylime]

Hi can anyone tell me what Royal Mails policy is on employees with swine flu,im sure i have it i should have gone sick today.heeelllllpppp!!!!!!

[itllnottouchyou]

go to the doc better being safe that sorry my friend!

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Hi can anyone tell me what Royal Mails policy is on employees with swine flu,im sure i have it i should have gone sick today.heeelllllpppp!!!!!!

from LTB 394/09 Royal Mail will issue specialist advice via a hotline on 0800 032 3728.

http://www.cwu.org/ltb-394/09-swine-inf ... break.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[TrueBlueTerrier]

They also were meant to give a brief at WTL and here is the text and the original document as an attachment:

talkabout
Flu

Introduction
There has been a lot in the press about a new outbreak of “swine” flu. Royal Mail, through its Chief Medical Officer and Business Protection Manager is monitoring the situation and will continue to provide health and operational advice.

Key Message
There is no need for undue alarm. We will continue to monitor the situation and provide advice.

What is “swine flu?
The current outbreak of swine ‘flu is the latest of a series of influenza viruses that periodically occur. Influenza viruses are complicated viruses which are forever changing, making them difficult to eradicate. It must be remembered that at this time of the year we would normally expect a certain level of ‘flu cases anyway.

What is being done?
The World Health Organisation (WHO) and many governments including our own are operating a surveillance scheme.
Our Government has stockpiled anti viral medication. Royal Mail is also monitoring the situation closely from a personal and operational point of view relying on advice from our experienced medical experts.

What can we do to reduce any risks?
If you suffer from certain medical conditions, for e.g. heart, lung disease, asthma, diabetes, people taking steroids, people with poor immunity, HIV, etc., you should prepare as for normal flu. Your GP will call you for a routine flu jab as he does annually.
GPs also offer routine flu jabs for young children or elderly relatives.
Hygiene remains a major way of protecting yourself and your family.
Cover your mouth and nose when you sneeze or cough
If you blow your nose, carefully throw the tissues away into the rubbish
Wash your hands often – especially after coming in from outside
Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth
If you do catch flu, it is best to rest at home, take medicines to relieve the symptoms and drink plenty of fluids. This will speed your recovery and help prevent the spread of infection.
Can swine flu be passed in the mail?
The Health Protection Agency has assured us that catching flu from letters or parcels is not a risk.

Will Royal Mail issue masks?
No. Although in some circumstances masks can help - in most they do not and indeed in some circumstances they risk actually increasing the chance of acquiring viral infection.

Face masks are only effective if very carefully and closely fitted and changed very regularly (sometimes needed as often as hourly) - even small gaps around the nose or mouth may allow an airborne virus to be inhaled and masks become saturated - which actually can provide a way of prolonging exposure to risk of virus. It is also very difficult not to frequently adjust the mask and "fiddle" (as the masks are often awkward and uncomfortable) especially if you are not used to wearing one - and this increases the opportunity for virus to be passed from hand to nose and mouth

Whilst the WHO have shifted up their alert status - the information from specialist resources suggests that the UK response to identifying and containing cases is likely to be effective and whilst we expect to see some cases testing positive in the UK, to date the infection has been such that it responds well to the medical treatments available in the UK.

We will be keeping our approach under very regular review throughout this worrying period, but are confident that at this stage simple measures such as regular hand washing and seeking medical advice (via NHS Direct or telephoning your GP) if worried about symptoms (high temperature, headaches and aches/ pains) remains the best advice.

Where can I get further advice?
Royal Mail will issue specialist advice via a hotline on 0800 032 3728
Further advice may be obtained from
NHS Direct on 0845 4647 or your GP surgery.

[DGP1]

If I catch it I'm going in, I'm on a stage 2 at the moment and can't take anymore time off and unless I get a written exemption I'm going to spread it around (one postie speads it to other posties who in turn spread it to customers ).

[islfor]

you wont be issued with any stage for swine flu as its been recorded as an pandemic by the World Health Organisation.

[kwikpost]

you wont be issued with any stage for swine flu as its been recorded as an pandemic by the World Health Organisation.

is this true. ??

[itllnottouchyou]

you wont be issued with any stage for swine flu as its been recorded as an pandemic by the World Health Organisation.

is this true. ??

god knows if it is dont expect your DOM to tell you it will eat into their budget and that would never do!!!

[shelanda]

apparently we can only go off sick with swine flu with doctors note clarifying that we have it, sounds to me like they are afraid of a lot off staff will use it as an excuse. With a caring employer like ours, as if!!!

[jessthecat]

One of our lads in our office went home after an hour today, doctor went to see him. Outcome = Swine flu!

[Lounge Lizard]

They also were meant to give a brief at WTL and here is the text and the original document as an attachment:

talkabout
There is no need for undue alarm. We will continue to monitor the situation and provide advice.
.

No matter what the potential emergency every statement about every possible risk starts of with those words and then goes on and on and on such that after a couple of minutes you've read less than a quarter of it, got bored and gone of to do something else.

[jockstrapp]

They also were meant to give a brief at WTL .............I believe W=work...... T=time.....L=learning.........Nope never had one of these for a long long time

[andy2007]

you wont be issued with any stage for swine flu as its been recorded as an pandemic by the World Health Organisation.

is this true. ??

god knows if it is dont expect your DOM to tell you it will eat into their budget and that would never do!!!

We were told that if we went on sick, with Swine Flu, it'd be treated exactly the same as any other absence.

[kingtubby]

I read somewhere that there was a government proposal for a temporary doubling in the time allowed for self-certified sick leave, from the current one week to two weeks. Don't think it's been implemented yet, but it would probably conflict with with the way RM would like to manage things.

[Barry Trotter]

A guy in one of the edinburgh offices was off today with suspected swine flu.