In all seriousness
Jul. 15th, 2014 02:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kaberettwho the hell am I supposed to contact given:
... because this isn't actually sustainable. I can't do my job without entering the building; I can't enter the building without getting poisoned, and if I were actually on a contract I'd be seriously thinking about constructive dismissal, but that's not how PhD stipends work.
(No, really, at least two hundred metres of corridor and the entire central stairwell are currently not actually usable by me without causing damage. The only mostly-safe route to my areas of work has no working lifts. I literally cannot get to my desk +wheelchair without exposure, or to my lab at all unless I time breathing very carefully. As for getting to my desk without chair, it's about six flights of stairs, which isn't sustainable given my joints. It is shit.)
- smokers are (illegally!) rendering my building so toxic that I can't actually enter/exit it without rendering myself unable to breathe
- an initial e-mail 4 months ago to disability services & building manager has resulted in no useful follow-up, and nor have the two most recent chasing e-mails
... because this isn't actually sustainable. I can't do my job without entering the building; I can't enter the building without getting poisoned, and if I were actually on a contract I'd be seriously thinking about constructive dismissal, but that's not how PhD stipends work.
(No, really, at least two hundred metres of corridor and the entire central stairwell are currently not actually usable by me without causing damage. The only mostly-safe route to my areas of work has no working lifts. I literally cannot get to my desk +wheelchair without exposure, or to my lab at all unless I time breathing very carefully. As for getting to my desk without chair, it's about six flights of stairs, which isn't sustainable given my joints. It is shit.)
(no subject)
Date: 2014-07-15 01:23 pm (UTC)Send her a summary of the situation and attach your emailed attempts to get something done. You have done all you can to get your job done; she has an interest in you getting your job done; we live in a hierarchical society and she is higher up the hierarchy than you.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-07-15 01:25 pm (UTC)I'm reluctant to contact my supervisor because she (and my entire direct chain of command) are smokers. They're not fucking me up yet, but I'm being weirdly squeamish about whether it's ~impolite~ to ask her to have my back on this (i.e. probably way the fuck too unnecessarily accommodating to my own detriment). Being told it's still legit to ask her to handle this shit would actually be really useful.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-07-15 01:44 pm (UTC)My experience of departmental culture (YMMV though, obviously) suggests that the supervisor will probably have your back on this regardless of their person affiliation on the smokers/non-smokers divide -- if nothing else, university policy should be pretty clear on this. If supervisor doesn't, my guess would be that there are problems there that are going to manifest at some point in the next three years in any case.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-07-15 01:56 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-07-15 01:51 pm (UTC)It doesn't matter if she herself is a smoker. It might matter if she is one of the people who are causing the problem, because she might get defensive about it instead of doing her job.
However. It is part of her role to ensure that you can get your work done and that reasonable accommodations are made for you. "Ensuring people obey the law about smoking in enclosed public space" isn't even an accommodation, it's what the organisation should be doing anyway. Fixing the broken lifts is the barest minimum of reasonable accommodation.
Politeness doesn't really come into it - you have tried to sort out the problem yourself, you are meeting resistance, she is the appropriate person to escalate to in the first instance.
To me, HR and/or union are who you go to if your supervisor fails in their duties towards you. I personally wouldn't go to HR yet. I think it wouldn't hurt to contact the union safety rep and ask their advice, letting them know that you are escalating to your supervisor in the meantime. I also think it is fine if you don't feel up to that at this stage.
With my personal hat on:
The smokers I know who actually take account of other people's needs/preferences not to breathe in tobacco smoke are some of the best people at policing other smokers. A sort of "stop making us look bad" approach.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-07-15 01:57 pm (UTC)I think I'm also feeling a bit twitchy about the amount of pastoral work supervisor is having to do? But thank you -- this is all really helpful.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-07-15 02:08 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-07-15 02:44 pm (UTC)I know you know this, but... not your problem, not your problem, NOOOOT your PROOOOOBLEM. Sometimes I have one student at a time having a meltdown/crisis/pastoral issue, sometimes I have four or five of them at once. I *don't* get mad at the ones who happen to have their time-when-they-need-something-sorted coinciding with other people's: if I have too much to do in the way of pastoral duties, that's between me and my employers, *not* the students' faults.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-07-15 03:42 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-07-16 01:47 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-07-15 03:11 pm (UTC)Draft
Date: 2014-07-15 01:39 pm (UTC)I've been in contact with the Disability Advisory Service and Fraser Wigley since March on this topic, but have not yet received any response indicating that action is being taken. People routinely smoke on the front steps of the RSM building, within five metres of the door; especially in this warmer weather when doors are open, this means that smoke is present throughout the RSM central stairwell, along the entire corridor through to Dalby Court, and along the majority of the basement corridor via which I access my labs.
I've got a serious allergy to cigarette smoke: exposure causes severe coughing fits, reduced tolerance and pain on breathing that takes up to a week to subside after the last exposure. Each exposure increases my sensitivity. A necessary component of my role is working with chemicals that are irritants on inhalation; my supervisors and head of group are all smokers, and while sensitised residual smoke in clothes also causes me problems.
Failure to comply with - and to enforce - legal requirements about smoking near entrances is having a very real impact not only on my ability to do my job but on my long-term health. As a wheelchair user it is impossible for me to access my desk without going via the RSM central stairwell. It is also impossible for me to access my labs without risking exposure.
I am in discussion with my medical team regarding increasing medication, but I don't respond well to most treatments and have an extremely complex medical situation, making it at best challenging to find an acceptable compromise. In order for me to be reasonably able to continue working I need this to be resolved as soon as possible.
Yours
-alex.
Re: Draft
Date: 2014-07-15 02:06 pm (UTC)first para: small sentence structure change
"within five metres of the door. When doors are open (as they often are in warm weather), smoke is present"
second para: strike third sentence entirely about your role and your coworkers. Then move first sentence of fourth para here
third para: put the first sentence last
Change fourth para to:
I need your help and advice to address the problem of smoke within the building as soon as possible.
This makes it flows nicely through:
1. this is the situation
2. this is why it is a problem, and what I am already doing about it
3. this is the impact of the problem
4. this is what I need
Re: Draft
Date: 2014-07-15 03:18 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-07-15 01:55 pm (UTC)Before you get to that point, though, there's a certain magic to taking your previously emailed complaint, tweaking it for printed letter form, adding a line to the start along the lines of 'this is a printed version of an complaint previously emailed to $disabilityservicesperson via $theiremail and $buildingmanger via $mangeremail; since then [brief detailing of lack of useful followup]. [Health consequences to you.] This situation constitutes an ongoing occupational health hazard to me because there is no other path I can enter / exit my workplace without exposure to toxicity.' etc. etc., and then add a line documenting that the people receiving a copy of this printed complaint compose not only $disabilityservicesperson and $buildingmanger, but also the boss(es) of those people, and your institutional ombudsman or any advocate-type person whose area of responsibility remotely has bearing on $peoplewithyourjobtype or occupational health & safety.
Most institutions past a certain size will have advocate-types for occupational health & safety precisely so that these type of thing can be addressed appropriately without the employee needing to bring down the hammer of an official complaint to $appropriategovernmentagency. That being said, you shouldn't shy away from making the latter type of complaint if that's what it takes — if it's a problem for you, a.) that's enough — you already have the law on your side, and your employers have a responsibility to minimize hazards to your health in your workplace as much as practicable with the type of work you do; also, b.) if it's a problem for you, it will also be a problem of some degree for other people. If a smoker wants to muck with their health by smoking, that's one thing; they don't get the right to make that choice for other people.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-07-15 01:58 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-07-15 03:33 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-07-15 03:45 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-07-15 03:53 pm (UTC)Yup, I think I would second this.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-07-15 05:14 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-07-15 07:00 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-07-15 03:39 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-07-15 05:31 pm (UTC)Also, I'm sorry you have to deal with all this bullshit.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-07-15 05:58 pm (UTC)it doesn't solve the larger issue, but it will give you the wherewithal to continue fighting.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-07-15 06:09 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-07-15 07:01 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-07-17 03:50 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-07-16 12:55 pm (UTC)BUT with regards to not getting poisoned: have you tried a variety of HEPA masks? Personally I don't really get along with wearing most full masks when doing anything terribly aerobic because hives. But might be an option for short periods?
(no subject)
Date: 2014-07-17 03:50 pm (UTC)