Posted By JAMES MM Colin, I Have not come across any legislation with regards to eating at a pc desk but I do know that the crumbs may attract any beasties that are local and obviously the chance of leptospirosis will have to be considered in a risk assessment. Also you must take into consideration spillage that may damage the computer and potentially lose critical information. What you can do is put it in the employment contract that personnel are only to eat in designated areas. Can you afford to lose all the information from a PC because of spillage? Can that individual afford to lose his or her PC until you get a replacement? And I bet they will claim for their clothing if any fizzy pop or food ruins it because you allowed them to eat at their desk!!!! good luck James

Posted By Ed Carter Colin, Funnily enough there was a piece on the radio this morning about this. Apparently people who eat at their desks ( and I assume workstations)face X thousand more bacteria, than if they took their food into the average toilet. This isn't a suggestion merely a comment! Incidently are those Regs mentioned by myfellow contributor for real? if so where can I read a copy. Ed

Posted By Zoe Barnett Colin, look at the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations for details about eating areas etc. To be honest I wouldn't worry too much about the bugs unless the place is absolutely filthy (and leptospirosis is likely to be a very very small risk). We are exposed to millions of different bacteria and viruses all day every day - supermarket trolley handles, air circulation systems, standing next to people at the bus stop etc etc etc. I speak as someone who has enough crumbs in her keyboard to reassemble a complete French stick and the simplest way to get shot of them is a pastry brush. I agree though that drinks may be a bigger problem and for this reason and for the fact that it's better for your health you could suggest that only water is drunk at the desk (you will probably see a marked reduction in headaches - staff may well have ascribed these to DSE use when in fact they're dehydrated). A PC engineer told me that water on a keyboard won't do any significant damage to the machine but that coffee, coke etc are the real problem, as they are sticky (obviously there's still an electrical issue though).

Posted By Sean Fraser For those who might not know, all UK (including devolved) government statute from 1987 is available on-line and in full at: http://www.hmso.gov.uk/ And yes, the regs referenced above were tongue-in-cheek!

Posted By Heather Aston Loved the spoof regs - can't really believe anyone thought that was serious..... Personally I would ban pasties & sausage rolls too as I find the flaky pastry gets in between the keys and makes the keyboard greasy. I do agree however with those who've said it's a matter of common sense and dare I say it - risk assessment. There's far too much emphasis on "rules" in many organisations today, when really all we need to do is apply a little common sense to a situation such as this. I work in an office where we have nowhere else to go to eat unless the weather's nioe outside. The risks presented by this are minimal other than it not being good for me to spend my whole lunch break playing on the computer instead of having a break..... In workplaces where we have a canteen, we do ask staff not to eat hot meals at their desks - but as someone said above this is more to do with not wanting the smell of curry in the office for the rest of the day than it is to do with safety. Heather